Hubmen Basketball Open Season with a Win
By Tracy Helgerson
New is the adjective used to describe the 2024-25 Jordan Hubmen Basketball Team. New coaches. New offensive and defensive schemes. New players. Even new gameday gear. The Hubmen are looking to improve on last season’s 13-16 record.
After 10 years as an assistant, Jordan alum and Augustana University graduate, Yuriy Malashenko takes over as the Hubmen Varsity Basketball Coach. Coach Malashenko experienced success playing basketball at Jordan and Augustana. Surrounding Coach Malashenko is 52 years of coaching experience. Assistant Coach Dave Samuelson brings 30 years and Assistant Coach Ty Pivec has 12 years. Drew Sinke has 10 years of experience and will be the JV coach. Jonathan Draheim is coaching basketball for the first time and will coach the C teams.
Based on last year’s strong performances, Coach Malashenko predicts Southwest Christian, Delano, and Holy Family to be favored in the Wright County Conference. “Southwest Christian is very well coached and has had a core group of players playing together for a while. Delano has one of the top 2026 players in the state in Max Iverson. Holy Family seems to reload with talent every year and had a strong JV squad last season.”
Last season the Hubmen were winless in the conference but are expecting to be more competitive this season with 3 of their top 4 scorers returning. Malashenko states, “We have a very talented core group of 7 players but most are seeing their first real Varsity action. We will be balanced with all 7 rotation players having the ability to score in the double digits on any given night. We will need our inexperienced players to learn and adapt quickly to help with our team's depth.”
According to Coach Malashenko, Juniors Mitchell Schmidt and Lexyn Grof should lead the way in scoring. Senior Noah Robinson will add some interior rebounding and scoring. Senior Brayden Davis, Junior Graham Helgerson, and Sophomore Connor Stensland will be asked to be consistent contributors in scoring and rebounding. Senior Jacob Conrady will play multiple positions. Owen Halvorson will provide a spark off the bench with his pressure defense, speed and playmaking on offense.
Jordan 87 Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 55
The Hubmen opened the season with a convincing 87-55 win over Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (HLWW) on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jordan jumped out to a 16-4 lead and never looked back. The Hubmen’s 1-3-1 trap and aggressive defense led to many steals and easy transition baskets to go up 43-27 at the half. The second half was much the same. Jordan was too quick and athletic for HLWW going on a 21-8 run to extend the score to 64-35. Jordan cruised to an easy 87-55 win with all the Hubmen players getting into the game.
Lexyn Grof led the Hubmen with 32 points and Mitchell Schmidt added 15.