The Orono boys’ basketball team continued their dominance on their home court with a 63-34 victory over Mound-Westonka on Feb. 14.

It was the Spartans’ 10th victory in 13 games at home as they improved to 12-9 on the season.

The Spartans utilized a 1-3-1 zone defense for a majority of the game, which forced the Whitehawks to try to score from the perimeter.

“The whole purpose of the zone is to take away the lanes for penetration and to have the other team force up some bad shots,” head coach Mike Amos said.

The plan worked, as the Whitehawks put up 19 three-point attempts in the first half alone and made only two of them.

The cold shooting by the Whitehawks allowed the Spartans to jump out to a big 23-4 lead behind eight points by sophomore guard Pat Boerner.

After the Whitehawks closed the lead to 25-15 by halftime, the Spartans put the game away early in the second half by making eight of their first nine shots.

Six different players made field goals during the span, as the Spartans took a 46-25 lead.

By game’s end, the Spartans shot 46 percent from the field and held the Whitehawks to just 22 percent. The Whitehawks finished the game four of 33 from three-point range.

The Spartans played the game without leading scorer Jon Leuer, who was forced to sit out with a bruised tailbone.

Without Leuer’s 20.7 points per game, it was a night for other players to step up.

One of those players was senior David Baker, who led the Spartans with 14 points on five of seven from the field.

“I feel bad for him because he’s always got another kid draped all over him and he never seems to get a call,” Amos said. “He’s solid night in and night out. He gives me 14 or 15 points a game and about nine or 10 rebounds per game, so he’s done a great job.”

Boerner was another player who stepped up in Leuer’s absence by netting 13 points despite averaging only 5.6 points per game.

“Pat has started to increase his output quite a bit,” Amos said. “This was a great game as far as him getting his confidence going. He’s a sophomore that’s unbelievably athletic.”

When the section playoffs roll around the Spartans will need role players like Boerner to make solid contributions.

“Our section is pretty tough because we have Benilde, DeLaSalle and Minneapolis Henry,” Amos said. “When you talk about Henry and DeLaSalle, you better be able to handle their pressure and that’s one of the things we have to get better at in a real hurry.”

While Amos has the Spartans focused on things they need to improve this season, the first-year head coach is also looking toward the future at long-term goals.

After serving as an assistant coach at Hopkins under Ken Novak, Jr. for several years, Amos is trying to build a program at Orono that will experience similar success as the one at Hopkins.

“I think the one thing is the work ethic. The kids over at Hopkins spend so much time working at their game,” Amos said. “They play the game year round and they’re in the weight room.”

“That’s one of the things we started this summer. Our kids go to The Edge, they do individual workouts with a personal trainer and a small group. We have open gym four nights a week and we also play spring and fall AAU basketball.”

As for the remainder of this season, the Spartans have three regular season games remaining before the section playoffs begin.

They will play at Annandale today before hosting Columbia Heights on Friday, Feb. 24.

What will determine whether the Spartans can make some noise in the postseason?

Amos says it is simple. “We have to be able to handle pressure and handle pressure.”