MVL stops St. Mary's

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- For the second straight game, the Minnesota Valley Lutheran boy's basketball team was tested.

And for the second straight game, the Chargers passed the test.

MVL held a 63-53 lead over Sleepy Eye St. Mary's with 4:40 left in the game but wound up hanging on for dear life, battling a furious Knight comeback attempt for a 69-67 upset win over the previously unbeaten Knights.

Jake Firle led MVL (8-3; 10-5) with 22 points with Nate Nass adding 21.

Junior Matt Mathiowetz paced St. Mary's (10-1, 12-1) with a game-high 23 points. Sophomore Matt Gangelhoff tossed in 15 points with junior Kyle Ludewig contributing 14.

'This was a great game and we knew that this was going to be a battle," said St. Mary's coach Peter Roufs. "We had a good game with them the first time (a 69-62 Knight win in Sleepy Eye). I was proud of the way that our kids came back from 10 points and came back and we had a chance to tie or win the game late."

'St. Mary's is a very good team and this was a well-played game," said Charger coach Craig Morgan who sees his team extend their winning streak to eight straight. They host Blue Earth Area tonight. "And beating and unbeaten team is nice -- when you are unbeaten like they were, everyone is gunning for you."

The Knights, who played without an injured Paul Fuchs (ankle) trailed by that 63-53 margin following a Dustin Lendt trey.

But St. Mary's fought back, using a bucket from Ludewig and two free throws courtesy of Gangelhoff to slice the lead to 63-57.

Nass' three-ball gave MVL a nine point cushion but once again, the Knights stormed back, pulling to within 66-63 on three consecutive baskets two on Charger turnovers -- by Mathiowetz with 1:11 left in the game.

Two free throws from Nass preceded two more baskets by Mathiowetz to cut the lead to 68-67. Andy Beilke'e free throw -- one of nine made in 23 attempts by MVL in the game) upped the lead to 69-67.

A desperation shot by Gangelhoff fell short as the buzzer sounded.

"We talked about at the beginning of the year when we lost those three games in a row right away that those close games will pay dividends," commented Morgan. "And our kids are getting mentally tough on that -- we just need to hit some key free throws down the stretch."

St. Mary's took a 2-0 lead to start the game and held a lead for all of the first quarter, taking a 9-5 lead on baskets from Mathiowetz and Rob Brandl -- but Brandl would pick up his third foul of the game at the 1:36 mark of the quarter and went to the bench for the final minute of the first quarter and all of the second quarter.

Despite Brandl on the bench, the Knights held a lead until before the Chargers took their first lead of the game at 22-20 on Grant Holzhueter's only basket of the game and then take a 23-22 lead on a Firle free throw.

"We had to make some adjustments (with Brandl on the bench) but I am not going to make excuses," Roufs said. "You have to play through the foul trouble and guys had to stay in the game longer than normal -- but we had five guys on the floor and so did they. No excuses."

Down 31-28 at halftime, the Knights used a strong inside game aided by a poor inside defense by MVL to retake the lead at 40-39. Ten of the 20 Knight points in the third quarter were scored in the paint with 28 of the 67 SESM points being score in the paint.

"We harp on that all season, in practice -- until the guys decide that they are going to help that other person out and cut off that baseline, the other team will score," said Morgan.

And St.Mary's would build a 48-44 lead on baskets by Kyle Ludewig and two free throws from Mathiowetz before back-to-back treys from David Petersen -- who played in the "B" squad game -- lifted MVL to a 50-48 lead going into the final quarter.

"That really have them some momentum,"said Roufs. "We had a nice run before that."

"For a kid who played some "B" squad quarters -- he was cool and calm," Morgan said.

MVL won the "B" game 74-34. David Petersen and Paul Bunkowski each had 14 points with Andrew Woitas lead SESM with eight.

SESM 13 15 20 19--67

MVL 11 20 19 19--69

SESM (67): Mathiowetz 23, Gangelhoff 15, Ludewig 14, Brandl 8, Wahl 7.

MVL (69): Firle 22., Nass 21, Lendt 7, Beilke 7, Petersen 6, Lange 3, Holzhueter 2, Shoop 1.