The sound of the head official’s whistle chirped, and before the home crowd could blink, the two sides were flying up and down the court. An up tempo offensive performance is always fun to watch, and fortunately for FHC, they were the side who established a big lead early on, which allowed them to sit back on defense and play their own tempo. Anytime a team takes off and scores early, it can prove to be difficult to get back into the game. The Huskies were the victims of that situation.

Head Coach James Telman and his boys defeated the Huskies 63-50 in a high flying display of quick offense and an agile and efficient approach on defense. The Ranger boys were off to the races from the get-go, continuing to push the tempo of the game and use their size and sharp shooters to attack the rim and spread the floor with outside shots.

Northern had a lot of speed both offensively and defensively, but were not able to fend off Central’s potent offensive attack. It was evident that the Huskies were used to attacking the rim as their game plan, but were stopped in their tracks by strong play and solid rebounding from Central’s bigs. Sophomore Tate Hallock, who contributed to the offensive attack and even threw down a one handed tomahawk dunk, spoke on how well the offense was gelling together that night, and how it was exactly what they had been hoping to do against their conference rivals.

“We passed the ball and executed well tonight,” Tate said. “We’ve been working hard [at practice], running our plays, and getting ready to do what we need to do to win.”

Sophomore Adam Tellier also had a big night for the Rangers and touched on how the team has handled staying focused throughout the season thus far.

“We’ve just gotta continue to stay together and focus on our goal,” Adam said. “We want to win a conference championship, and we’re gonna keep on working hard until we get there.”

The players seemed to be communicating well on both ends of the court throughout the night and kept Northern on their toes. For the Rangers, they never had to deal with chasing in the game. They established themselves a solid halftime lead of 42-16 thanks to spot on shooting and a valiant effort of crashing the glass.

The Huskies struggled to find rhythm on offense from the start and never really gained traction until early into the second half, after FHC began to slow down in terms of scoring. It was evident that FHC’s bigs were outworking the Huskies down low and providing prolonged life to the Rangers’ offensive possessions.

Head coach James Telman was very pleased with the way his team performed, and is now looking for more ways to continue to challenge his players with the coming of each week in practice.

“I think we came out and played very efficient defense,” Telman said. “We also were well prepared to come out and take on a team like Northern. It’s always a big rivalry game so, regardless of the match ups, it’s always going to be a battle and I think we won that fight through both halves.”

Telman also recognized what type of a formula he needs to use to keep up the team’s recent success.

“We need to continue to do what we’ve done today and in our past games and keep building on it,” Telman said. “We can never settle, and must continue to pile on to the success that we have now.”

Not only does he enjoy developing them as basketball players, but he also loves watching them develop off the court as well as they become young men.

“I love practicing with these guys,” Telman said. “It’s great to see them all get better individually, not just in basketball, but hopefully I can teach them a little bit about life as well.”