Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Hunter Horn of St. Edmond takes off to dunk against South Hamilton on Thursday night in Des Moines. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

DES MOINES — While the St. Edmond boys enjoyed their opportunity to step on the Wells Fargo Arena court here Thursday night, they would like nothing more than to do it again later in the year with much more on the line.

The Gaels kicked off the 2025 portion of their schedule with a convincing 77-20 victory over South Hamilton as part of the Iowa Wolves High School Hoops Series event.

“I thought we did what we needed to do right off the bat,” SEHS head coach Adolph Kochendorfer said. “Our players went out and executed. We wanted to focus on defensive, rebounding and move the basketball to get good looks.”

Hunter Horn scored 30 points, including 26 in the first half, as St. Edmond (6-0 overall) built a commanding 45-point halftime lead in a game that didn’t tip off until after 9 p.m. due to the earlier prep contests running behind schedule.

Jack McElroy added 17 points, Jakob Koopman had 11 and senior Andrew Clavey tallied eight.

“I thought (Thursday night) was really fun,” Horn said. “We played really well as a team and it was a great experience for everyone.

“Happy we got a chance to come down here and compete, and hopefully down the stretch as we keep working, we are able to get back down here in March.”

Under Kochendorfer, St. Edmond has reached the state tournament nine times, winning it all in 2000 to go along with four runner-up titles and two fourth-place finishes. They last made it to the elite eight field in 2012, earning one of those second-place trophies.

McElroy had 15 of his 17 points in the opening 16 minutes, helping pick up the lost scoring of the absent Carson Bargfrede. The junior is expected to return to the rotation sometime in the coming weeks as he recovers from a leg injury.

“Jack got the lid off the hoop,” Kochendorfer said. “He had some nice drives, made contact and finished at both the basket and the line.”

Reserves Thomas Ehn, Griffin Laufersweiler, Ty Mericle and Jacob Nieland all got into the scorebook with buckets. Clavey grabbed eight rebounds to lead the team.

“It was nice to get everybody on the court,” Kochendorfer said. “You could see the excitement on their faces, and they were able to get some quality minutes out there.”

For the Hawks (0-8), Grant Larson had eight points, Jose Babcock seven and Ben Swenson contributed five.

South Hamilton had won the last two meetings between these rivals, with the last St. Edmond win coming in 2021. Since 2007, the Gaels lead the series, 12-6.

Next action for St. Edmond will be on Tuesday when they travel to Humboldt for North Central Conference play.

ST. EDMOND 77, SOUTH HAMILTON 20

St. Edmond — Hunter Horn 30, Jack McElroy 17, Jakob Koopman 11, Andrew Clavey 8, Thomas Ehn 3, Griffin Laufersweiler 2, Ty Mericle 2, Grant Galles 2, Jacob Nieland 2.

South Hamlton — Grant Larson 8, Jose Babcock 7, Benjamin Swenson 5.

Quarter scores: St. Edmond led 24-7, 58-13, 70-18.