Chaska coach Dana Kallman has been using a simple mantra this year to keep his team focused on the task at hand.

“ 'Embrace the Moment,' ” Kallman said. “You work all summer long to put yourself in this situation, and now that you’re in that situation, don’t shy away from it. Step up, don’t be scared, embrace the moment and have some fun with it.”

That’s exactly what Luke Hennen and Jameson Meyer had to do for the Hawks to pull out a win on the road at Metro West Conference foe St. Louis Park on Friday night.

Trailing by 10 points at halftime thanks to a 20-0 Orioles' run midway through the first half, Chaska needed something big. And the Hawks got it, but not from who you might think when looking at the season statistics.

Myles Hanson, a 6-foot-5 junior who leads Chaska in scoring, averaging 22.5 points per game, said he wasn’t too surprised to see the team's wings heat up.

“Luke’s a very good shooter, it’s just all about confidence with him because if he gets hot, there’s no stopping him,” Hanson said. “Jameson is just a pure shooter, and it’s the same thing with him. If he gets hot, it’s buckets every time down the court.”

Meyer and Hennen traded three-pointers to open the second half against St. Louis Park, combining for six made threes as the Hawks went on a 25-9 run to retake the lead and never looked back. The pair had just two and seven points, respectively, at halftime and finished the game with 16 and 21 points.

Kallman said his team definitely followed his mantra during Friday night’s win, and all season for that matter. The Hawks have had plenty of moments to embrace in the first half of the basketball year, as Chaska has six wins decided by five points or less.

On top of an offense that features the deep threats of Meyer and Hennen along with Hanson, who can get to the rim at will, the Hawks are also quite stout on the defensive end. Chaska gives up just 63.2 ppg.

Hanson credits the Hawks’ defensive success on the overall length on the roster, with all starters listed at 6-foot-2 or taller.

“There’s not a lot of teams that are much bigger than us, unless they have a true post,” Hanson said. “But since we’re so long, it allows us to switch, and we don’t have a lot of mismatches, which is really nice because that allows our defense to show a lot of different looks.”

With wins quality wins already this season over Eden Prairie, No. 8-4A Lakeville North and No. 7-4A Shakopee, Chaska is setting things up nicely for a chance to win the Metro West for the second year in a row.

“We’ve had the discussion with our guys, because I don’t think our guys realized it, but we’re the team to beat,” Kallman said. “We’re the team that people are gunning for in our conference … so embrace the moment.”

Luke Hennen posted 21 points and Myles Hanson scored 16 as Chaska defeated St. Louis Park 77-70 in Metro West Conference action on Friday night at St. Louis Park High School.

The Orioles used a 20-0 first-half run to take a 44-34 lead into halftime, but the Hawks (14-5, 6-1) went on a 25-9 run out of the break, aided by three straight three-pointers from Jameson Meyer, to get back in front. Meyer finished the game with 16 points.

Ray Whitlock led St. Louis Park (13-5, 5-2) with a game-high 22 points and Cire Mayfield posted 18.

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