Defense, rebounding, defense. That’s the two things that we need to do if we want to win games and we did that really well tonight.”

Senior guard Miskir Esayas

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Next up for the Wolfpack is a matchup against St. Paul Academy (3-3) in the Harding Holiday Classic Tournament on Friday, Dec. 27, with a 10 a.m. tipoff. Park will play St. Paul Academy in the first round with St. Paul Harding (2-2) meeting Hiawatha Collegiate (3-5) in the other game. Friday’s winners then meet at noon Saturday.

Park’s Wolfpack got a big boys basketball win Wednesday, taking out visiting Irondale 62-51.
But the thing that really got the Wolfpack fired up was a charge taken by senior guard Mac Maluski in the second half.
“It’s our first charge of the year,” said Park head coach Isaiah Wallfred. “It’s something we’ve been focusing on all season. The effort, the defense, the taking charges, getting the loose balls. So that was a real point of emphasis, and my challenge was the who is going to be the first guy to get one and we had multiple guys try tonight and we finally got one at the end and everyone was fired up.
“I thought offensively we were OK,” Wallfred continued. “That zone kind of slowed us down a little bit but we still got really good shots, we just weren’t hitting. So I don’t think we shot a good percentage tonight. But defensively we brought it. And we competed and in that second half we made a little adjustment – we decided to blitz No. 10 and try to get the ball out of his hands and we created numerous turnovers and we had like 10 transition points in a row there. Defensively that’s what we’ve got to do – we’ve got to guard.”
The Wolfpack held a narrow 28-25 lead at the half but gradually pulled away to a comfortable 11-point win, outscoring Irondale by eight after the break.
Senior guard Anthony Giadyu led Park in scoring again, putting in 20 points, mostly on drives to the baskets or flashy turnarounds in the lane. Senior guards Miskir Esayas and Maluski each scored 10 points and junior forward Aaron Sandin had 9 points.
“I feel like we ran well in transition, towards the end of the second half we got a lot better, and I think we were moving the ball well when they went into a 2-3 zone,” said Giadyu.
Giadyu agreed that this was the best game Park has played this season, but that the team still has a ways to go to get to where they want to be.
“We’ve got a lot more opportunities to get better,” said Giadyu.
Esayas thought the Wolfpack played defense and rebounded well.
“Defense, rebounding, defense,” said Esayas. “That’s the two things that we need to do if we want to win games and we did that really well tonight. We held them to like 50, 51 points, I think, which is really good defense. And then we moved the ball well on offense and we passed to our teammates and got open shots and we got good looks and we were knocking down shots. Guys stepped up today big time and I think that helped us win a lot.”
Park improved to 1-2 in the Suburban East Conference and 2-3 on the season. Irondale slipped to 1-2 in the SEC and 1-5 overall.
Next up for the Wolfpack is a matchup against St. Paul Academy (3-3) in the Harding Holiday Classic Tournament on Friday, Dec. 27, with a 10 a.m. tipoff. Park will play St. Paul Academy in the first round with St. Paul Harding (2-2) meeting Hiawatha Collegiate (3-5) in the other game. Friday’s winners then meet at noon Saturday.