MONTAGUE — Hart coach Nick Bronsema's team has been putting in a lot of work since last season's district finals defeat, and Tuesday night the Pirates were able to show off the results of that labor.
Hart raced to a 12-point lead within the first couple minutes of its season opener at Montague and put away the Wildcats with a late first-half scoring run, cruising to a 74-41 win.
The Pirates played a fast-paced, in-your-face style on defense that threw off the Wildcats backcourt and led to a lot of turnovers and easy fast-break baskets for Hart. The Pirates enjoyed a 28-6 advantage after the first quarter.
"Our mindset is that defense turns into offense," Pirate sophomore Kolton Rockwell said. "If we stop them on defense, that leads to fast break layups, and the easiest bucket in basketball is a layup. Getting in their face just makes them feel uncomfortable."
It was Rockwell whose three-pointer turned back the Wildcats' best surge. After Montague scored to cut Hart's big early lead to seven points, 30-23, late in the first half, Rockwell drilled a trey that sparked the Pirates to a 12-0 run to end the half.
Bronsema said he's been around teams that go at opponents on defense before, recalling his time at Mona Shores, but has never gone as all-in on the plan as these Pirates have. The team's depth and conditioning are what enable Hart to keep up the pace for large portions of the game.
"Normally, I'll pull off, but credit to our guys, what we do in practice is extremely hard," Bronsema said. "They don't get breaks, because we don't have many subs. In a game, it's actually easier because we have more subs. The way we want to play should be very tiring, and what we like is that it should get a lot more people involved on our bench, so we can play more people."
That depth paid off early in the second half. With seniors Caleb Ackley and Miguel Escamilla in foul trouble at halftime, Bronsema did not start them in the second half, but the Pirates didn't miss a beat.
Maybe just as importantly, the Pirate leaders accepted the move, Bronsema said, and supported their teammates from the bench to start the third quarter. Both re-entered the game later and continued to play well.
"They were every bit as happy for the other guys who got to start the second half and contribute and do well," Bronsema said. "We didn't miss a beat in that area, and it was really cool to see that they were excited for the other players."
As good as Hart was on defense, it was just as effective on offense. The Pirates knocked down four three-pointers as a team and got to the basket in both the fast-break and the half-court offenses. Jagger Lenon led the way with 21 points, Ackley had 17 and Rockwell had 16.
Lenon, always a dangerous shooter, drew even more praise from Bronsema for adding a rim-attacking dimension to his game. He got Hart going with eight first-quarter points and had 12 in the first half.
"He showed everybody that he can get to the rim, and that's what he's really been putting in time (doing)," Bronsema said of Lenon. "He's added that dimension, which makes it even harder to guard. He doesn't settle as much as he used to because he knows he can do that."
"We've got inside scorers and outside scorers," Lenon added. "We feed into each other. It's going to be hard for teams to stop us."
If the Pirates continue to play with the kind of fire they showed Tuesday, it would be hard not to see good things coming in their future.
"We try to control the things we can control, like with our effort, attitude, and being a good teammate. That's our core three that we follow," Bronsema said. "We're far from a finished product, but it's good to see that we do have energy, and we're getting after it."
