HETTINGER, N.D. — The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks were facing an 18-point deficit, 25-7, and the second quarter wasn’t even at its midway point.
With the way things were going for the Nighthawks, in their District 7 matchup against the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats on Thursday, Feb. 5 at Hettinger Public School, the margin seemed impossible to climb. They were outscored 14-4 in the first eight minutes and could not connect on any sort of bucket, whether that was inside the paint, from distance or at the charity stripe.
But the Nighthawks slowly started to see points fall through in the late stages in the second quarter, and trailed by 10 heading into the locker room with momentum on their side.
Then, the script flipped.
1/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
2/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
3/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
4/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
5/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
6/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
7/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
8/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
9/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
10/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
11/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
12/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
13/13: The Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks fell to the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats in a District 7 matchup at Hettinger Public School, 56-51, on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
Thanks to the efforts of their two senior leaders, Aidyn Fisher and Gavin Parnow, the Nighthawks climbed all the way back after outscoring the visitors 17-6 and carrying a 35-34 advantage heading into the fourth.
The Nighthawks put more points on the board in the early stages of the fourth quarter. However, Hettinger-Scranton couldn’t get necessary stops on defense, mainly because it was slow to establish double coverage on Bearcats sophomore Reid Schneider, the team’s 6-foot-6 center.
“He made plays when it mattered. We battled him hard and we held him down for quite a bit of the game, and then he just got loose there in the fourth quarter,” Hettinger-Scranton head coach Kelly Pierce said. “They’re a good basketball team. They’ve had a lot of big wins, and I was proud of our team tonight. We competed and that’s what I’ve been asking for them for quite some time.”
Schneider led all players on the floor with 27 points, 15 in the fourth, and Glen Ullin/Hebron pulled away with a 56-51 victory, handing the Nighthawks their fifth straight loss.
Fisher struggled from behind the arc early on in the contest, but once he hit his first three in the second quarter to slow down the Bearcats’ rampage, he couldn’t miss. The 6-foot-3 forward didn’t get on the board in the third quarter, but kept the Nighthawks alive in the fourth thanks to his three triples.
Hettinger-Scranton Nighthawks senior forward Aidyn Fisher carries the ball up the floor against the Glen Ullin/Hebron Bearcats on Thursday, Feb. 5 at Hettinger Public School.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
Parnow tied the game at 32-32 with just under a minute left to play in the third after his second three-pointer of the game. After being held to one field goal in the first half, which came on a three-point play at the buzzer on an in-bounds pass, the 6-foot-2 forward burst onto the scene with seven points in the third.
Both players finished the game with 17 and 13 points, respectively.
“They’re our most experienced players. They’ve been really struggling with some confidence. The ball hasn’t been going in the basket for them. Then once they made a couple, they took off, and they started playing the way that they’re capable of playing,” Pierce said. “If they shoot the ball the way they’re capable of, and they keep leading the way they are and keep rebounding the way we are, we’ll have a chance come district time.”
The Nighthawks grabbed their first lead of the game, at 35-34, after freshman forward Liam Kennedy connected on a huge three-pointer. Hettinger-Scranton took another one-point lead at 42-41, but Glen Ullin/Hebron went on a 9-0 scoring run to essentially seal the deal.
“It was more what they were doing, and not so much what we were doing,” Pierce said. “When you’re playing 2-3-4 freshmen at a time out there, there’s going to be some breakdowns. But they never quit and their energy was always there and I think we took a step forward tonight.”
The identity heading into the 2025-26 campaign for the Nighthawks was playing with a physical edge. Even though it couldn’t fill the scoresheet in the first quarter, Hettinger-Scranton was the better team on the glass throughout the night because of its physical play.
“We’ve been playing with a huge lack of physicality for the last month and a half. We’ve been emphasizing more physicality, better rebounding and tonight the kids went out and they executed,” Pierce said. “We’ve said it all year long, that this season is a marathon, not a sprint. And with that being said, hopefully we can build upon this.”
Hettinger-Scranton will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 7, when it takes on Trenton on the road.
Jacob Cheris covers a variety of high school and college sports. A graduate of Penn State University’s class of 2023, with a degree in broadcast journalism, he covered Penn State Men’s Hockey for three years. Jacob also covers Big Ten Hockey for College Hockey News.