MVL proves tough for Rabbits

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- With the label of the No. 1 ranked team in Class AA on its back, Minnesota Valley Lutheran began a tough week with home games against conference foes Wabasso, Sleepy Eye St. Mary's and New Ulm Cathedral.

The Chargers didn't suffer any kind of a letdown a week after defeating Mankato Loyola as they came out running and defeated Wabasso 82-58 Tuesday in boys Tomahawk Conference basketball action.

Nate Nass led the Chargers with 26 points, eight rebounds and nine assists and Dustin Lendt scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds for MVL (7-0).

"We knew that they liked to run the ball and shoot the three, and we wanted to first help inside and then pop out and get a hand up on the shooter," Nass said. "And we also wanted to run the ball right back at them. We didn't want to lay off at all and really attack on offense."

The Rabbits started man-to-man against the Chargers but were unable to keep up defensively down low. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Nass and Lendt gave MVL a 15-6 lead and Nass' basket inside made it 23-14. The MVL defensive pressure forced 26 Wabasso turnovers.

"We didn't handle their pressure very well tonight and we got into a little foul trouble, which usually happens here, and that's something that we just got to fight through as a team," Lance Larson said.

"We started out man-to-man on defense, and our bigger guys weren't able to stay with their smaller guys, so we had to switch up and go to a zone," Larson said. "Initially we weren't rotating very well on the weak side and we made an adjustment on the rotation."

The Rabbits made a comeback in the second quarter after Matt Samyn's jumper cut the deficit to 29-22. Samyn finished with 18 points and Jase Guetter scored 10. Dan Mathiowetz scored nine, but fouled out with less than four minutes remaining.

Mathiowetz and Samyn, two concerns coming into the game, each had nine rebounds.

"We wanted to have one guy get in front of them, but we wanted big help on the weak side," Nass said.

Guetter hit a 3-pointer to make it 31-27, but baskets by Nass and Mark Thiesfeldt made it 38-29. MVL led 38-31 at halftime.

Nass and Lendt stretched the MVL lead to 44-31 on a pair of treys, and Andy Beilke hit his first basket of the game -- a 3-pointer -- to make it 49-32. Beilke finished with eight points and seven assists.

"Andy's a good ballplayer -- he's kind of the key to their offense," Larson said. "He's the kind of kid that can still help a team a lot when he doesn't score. We didn't necessarily key on him, but he kind of found some sweet spots in our zone in the second half and made some good threes."

Wabasso (4-3, 2-1) started the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run, but Beilke's steal at midcourt turned into a layup, giving MVL a 71-55 lead.

"I think each game we jel a little bit more," Nass said. "Each game somebody else steps up. We have a full team and each game we have a good team effort."

MVL hosts St. Mary's Thursday.

WABASSO 16 15 11 16 -- 58

MVL 25 13 20 24 -- 82

WABASSO (58)

Samyn 18; D. Riley 6; Schwarz 3; C. Guetter 8; Christensen 0; Mathiowetz 9; Plotz 4; A. Hillesheim 0; J. Guetter 10; Gronli 0. Wabasso was 5-for-15 from 3-point range.

MVL (82)

Thiesfeldt 13; Morgan 4; Lange 9; Costello 0; Nass 26; Lendt 22; Holzhueter 0; Beilke 8; Shoop 0. MVL was 7-of-18 from 3-point range.

Fairmont 75, NU 36

FAIRMONT -- Jake Clements scored a career-high 27 points to lead Fairmont over New Ulm in South Central Conference boys basketball action Tuesday.

Jake Babel led New Ulm with nine points and nine rebounds.

New Ulm (1-5, 0-2 SCC) hosts Blue Earth Area Friday.

Springfield 58, GFW 34

SPRINGFIELD -- Brandon Wilhemi had seven assists and nine points as Springfield beat Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 58-34 Tuesday.

Bill Vogel from Springfield scored 28 points. GFW's Jack Sallstrom scored 10 points.

Springfield (1-2) will host St. Mary's Friday. GFW hosts Cedar Mountain/Comfrey Friday.

BLH 69, Sleepy Eye 58

SLEEPY EYE -- Jon DeRock scored 29 points, had 11 rebounds and seven assists in Buffalo-Lake Hector's 69-58 victory over Sleepy Eye Tuesday.

Kyle Bruns also had 10 points for BLH.

For Sleepy Eye, Jason Schueler scored 17 points, Mike Petersen and Andrew Rodrigues each had 11, and Tyler Jensen had 12 rebounds.

Sleepy Eye (1-4) plays at McLeod West Friday, and BLH (3-2, 2-1) play Friday at Wabasso.

RRC 65, SVRLB 30

LAMBERTON -- Mark Engen dominated Red Rock Central's 65-30 win over Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster with 26 points, 10 rebounds and nine blocks.

For the Falcons, Andy DeCock also had eight points and Matt Moldan had nine assists.

RRC shot 51 percent from the floor, while SVRLB shot just 22 percent, and RRC held a 33-9 lead after the first half.

Lance Steffen and Jay Melenke scored seven for SVRLB (0-7, 0-4 RRC).

RRC (3-4, 3-1 RRC) hosts Westbrook-Walnut Grove Thursday.

MLBO 46, Madelia 34

MADELIA -- Mark DeYounge led Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin with 21 points in its nonconference 46-34 win over Madelia Tuesday.

Grant Wall from MLBO scored 15 points. Madelia's Mark Jacobs scored 13 points, and Kevin Tatro had eight rebounds.

Madelia (4-4) will host Granada-Huntley-East Chain on Friday.

Nicollet 66, St. Clair 59

ST. CLAIR -- Jamie Mettler led Nicollet with 26 points, 14 rebounds and four assists in its 66-59 win against St. Clair Tuesday.

Cody Wilking and Mike Rosin each scored 11 points for Nicollet. Brandon Stori led St. Clair with 28.

Nicollet (3-0, 7-2) will host Maple River on Friday.

CM/C 62, McLeod West 49

MORGAN -- Brent Kopischke led Cedar Mountain/Comfrey with 15 points as CM/C beat McLeod West 62-49 Tuesday.

Brady Rose from CM/C scored 12 points and Andrew Larson had 12 rebounds. From McLeod West, Darren Rosenau scored 10 points and five rebounds.

CM/C (4-2, 2-1) will play Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop in Fairfax on Friday.