After the bust unveiling we honored the members of the 1942, 1949, and 1951 National Championship teams as well as the ten member of the Row of Honor. Unfortunately, there aren't many team members that are still with us, but we had a lot of families of the deceased on hand and it made for a very emotional day for everyone. Each player or coach was honored with a spot on our Row of Honor which is located on the north balcony of Hutton Arena.
The most emotional moment came when Vern Mikkelsen was honored. Vern was a NBA All Star, played in the inaugural NBA All Star game, and won a couple of NBA Championships with the Minneapolis Lakers. Last but not least, is a NBA Hall of Famer. Vern's health isn't the greatest but with the help of his son, was able to make an appearance today. I'm sure it was really tough for a lot of his teammates to see him as he is now. I know there are a lot of people that probably thought of him as "Superman" when he played and to see him now, it has to be tough.
It was a very humbling experience yesterday. I got to talk with Vern and Rollie Seltz (another Row of Honor inductee) about the team and where we are and where we are headed. They both said they were very proud to see the basketball program turn around to where it is now. It was quite an honor to have to these guys notice all the hard that we put in as a staff into making Hamline into a great program again. We still aren't quite there but we are on our way. All I could do, is thank them for making Hamline what it is today.
Now onto our game. It wasn't exactly the start that we wanted as we got a little confused on the defensive end but we certainly answered the bell right around the 13 minute mark. We started raining 3's from all over the place and dominated the rest of the half. We got a lot of inside out 3's and continually made the extra pass to give their teammates wide open 3's. We definitely put on a clinic for the half and led 54-36 at the break.
We really emphasized that we needed to get some penetration and not to settle for 3's to start the half. We attacked the rim right from the get go and went on a 10-2 to start the half . We hovered around a 20 point lead throughout the rest of the half and then the 3 point barrage started again as we got the lead to around 30 with a couple of minutes to play. Our guys that normally don't get a lot of minutes went in with about three minutes to play and finished with a 13-3 run to close the game down. We ended up winning with a season high in points with 108. Final score, 108-73.
If you would have told me that Carl would have 8 points and we would still win any game this season, I would have laughed right in your face. Needless to say, our team proved a lot of people including myself wrong. Carl was one of eight players with 8 points or more. We were led by Sam Gullickson's 15, Ainge's 13, Andy's 12, Noah's 11, and B's 10. Mike finished with 9, while Tyler and Carl finished with 8. All but one of our guys scored yesterday. If that's not a team effort then I don't know what is. We finished shooting 15-29 from 3 and 57% overall. Great finish to an emotional day.
We are now 14-8 and 12-5 in the conference and have clinched a playoff spot. It certainly doesn't get any easier for us, as we take on St. Olaf Monday night at 7:30pm. The Oles are the hottest team in the conference right now. They've won six straight games including a big win at St. Thomas. I know it's Valentine's Day and everyone's lady friend wants to spend time with them but it's a HUGE game for us. If we win, I believe we clinch a home game for the playoffs.
Forgot to add, a great article about Carl Hipp and his family in regards to him attending Hamline. Here is the LINK
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