The rivalry showed up with a packed house last night between Axtell and Hanover with the #2-ranked Axtell Eagles in class 1A DII defeating the #1 team in the classification, the Hanover Wildcats. Axtell went down early, but overcame the large deficit and won 65-62. 

Axtell scored the first bucket of the game with Landon Schmitz to go up 2-0 in the first minute, but Hanover would respond immediately by scoring 12 consecutive points to go up 12-2 and 17-6 by the end of the first quarter. After going down 12-2 Axtell called a timeout and afterwards out scored Hanover 18-13 before the end of the first half, only trailing 25-20 going into the locker room. Logan Sandmann and Colin Shaunnessy finally started to score for Axtell and combined for 12 points in the second quarter out of the team’s 14 scored. 

Axtell put their foot down in the third quarter, not only taking the lead but heading into the fourth quarter up 48-44, but also overcoming an early eight point deficit in the early quarter. Shaunessy and Sandmann went for six a piece in the third quarter, helping lead Axtell to out scoring Hanover 28-19 in the third. 

Both teams stayed steady and competitive in the fourth quarter, having the game come down to an attempted overtime sending three point ball from Jack Bruna, that was ultimately missed. 

Logan Sandmann finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds, and forced three turnovers. Including a crowd shattering dunk in the fourth quarter. Colin Shaugnessy followed closely behind with 13 for Axtell. Braylon Meyn put 24 points on the table for Hanover to lead the Wildcats

Hanover has now dropped to 16-1 this season and 7-1 in the TVL. Axtell is now 18-1 and has improved to 7-0 in TVL play.