Impatience

and poor

shooting

hurt NUC

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- New Ulm Cathedral basketball coach Dan Wolfe felt his team's loss Tuesday night to Sleepy Eye St. Mary's was due in part to his team's impatience on offense and the Hounds' outside shooting.

"When we went inside, we had success half the time, but we were impatient on offense and did not keep doing that," he said following the loss to the Knights.

"A team cannot live and die by the jump shots," added Wolfe. "They did a nice job on defense against us and sometimes you are a victim of your own offense a little bit. Sometimes that is because our kids are trying too hard to make things happen in the flow of the offense and let things kind of develop and try to break things down with the pass or the screen."

FOUL TROUBLE HURT: What also hurt the Hounds was their big men -- Dave Groebner and Billy Schreiber -- collecting early foul trouble.

"We still wanted to go inside," commented Wolfe. "When we had to change (our offense) is when they got a 10-point lead and they spread us out. Then we cannot go with our big men. Then we have to go with a quicker club. It also took us out of our three-man post rotation (Groebner, Schreiber and Brandon Goblirsch) when you are saddled with fouls like that. Fouls also negate hustle. They take aggressiveness away from kids.That (foul trouble) has been a problem for us for a good part of the year not just with our post players but with other players also.

"Those kids are just trying to make things happen by being aggressive and going to the boards and that has led to foul trouble."

CHARGERS BALANCE SHINES AGAIN: Minnesota Valley Lutheran coach Craig Morgan said Saturday his team "came out strong led by Tom Metzger in the win Friday night over Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop -- the Chargers' ninth win of the season after a home loss to Sleepy Eye High.

"We have that luxury of having that ability to score from players off the bench," commented Morgan. "We (Friday) made an adjustment with people. We started (Danny) Liggett, (Justin) Ohm, Metzger, (Dan) Unke and (Jesse) Pfeifer where we had been going with two taller usually, but this time we went with Dan Unke inside. What we gave up on height we still had with rebounding and scoring on the perimeter. We were a little smaller than they were to start. It does create some problems for other teams."

Unke started slow again in the first half, scoring five points before tallying 11 in the second half. In Tuesday's game, he had two points in the first half before scoring 12 points in the second half

"He is looking to pass the ball more and wants to establish inside," said Morgan. "We have talked about establishing the inside game and then work out. He is trying to set the example by passing the ball and getting an easier shot inside rather than the first pass and shoot."

Morgan feels Unke knows he does not have to do all the scoring for the Chargers to win. "He is very unselfish that way and he is alert to what we have and to his teammates. He has led the team in assists this year and he has had games where he has had more assists than points."

The quality depth is something that will really help MVL in the playoffs. Rather than having a good starting five and no depth, MVL can go nine deep without a noticeable drop off in the caliber of play. "It is nice to have that kind of depth and talent. It is something that the kids are looking forward to and they are starting to fall into a groove. They all work hard in practice."

WHISTLES HURTS EAGLES: If you were at the New Ulm High-Hutchinson basketball game Friday night, you saw why the Tigers won by six points. Hutchinson went to the free throw line 30 times compared to 14 times for New Ulm High -- that was the difference.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who is going to win. Especially when New Ulm High's defense held Hutch to five second-half field goals.

Despite that, New Ulm High had a chance to win the game late in the fourth quarter.

ARA WILSON REORGANIZES: The Ara Wilson League held a reorganizational meeting Saturday at Fairfax. The league, now called Ara Wilson East, has New Ulm Kaiserhoff, St. Peter, Bird Island, Brownton and Fairfax as its members. Dropped from the league in the reorganization were Marshall, Granite Falls and Milroy.

Tom Lacina of St. Peter was elected president with Doug Schuette of Brownton as vice president and Gary Hess of Fairfax secretary-treasurer.

League play will begin on June 3 and run through July 15.

I think New Ulm should honestly look toward the east for a future league, mainly the Southern Minny League and teams like Rochester, Mankato, Austin, Albert Lea. The future of Kaiserhoff and Class B baseball, I believe, is there because New Ulm is the only Class B team in the Ara Wilson East.

TOMAHAWK EAST LEAGUE TO USE WOOD BATS: The Tomahawk East League has voted unanimously that each team will play a home and home series using wood bats this season.

Last year, Stark, Leavenworth and Essig used wood bats in games with each other. Now, 22 games this year will see wood bats used. Also, Lake Crystal applied for membership in the Tomahawk East League but was denied membership. Myron Seidl is president, Ralph Zwaschka vice president and Terry Helget secretary/treasurer.

In state baseball news, players must now play in four league games to be eligible for postseason play. Also, the Brainerd Braves, who won Class C last year, has been reclassified to Class B, which means both Brainerd amateur teams are now Class B.

State tournaments were awarded for 2004, 2005 and 2006 with Jordan-Belle Plaine, Dassel-Cokato-Hutchinson and Rochester awarded tournaments in those years. New Ulm did submit a bid.

Next year's tournament is in Red Wing and Miesville. Also, sections were realigned with New Ulm Kaiserhoff, Marshall, Mankato Twins and Waseca all in Section 4B.

New Ulm Legion baseball has hired some of their coaches for next year with Dave Kunz (Legion Gold) and Bob Weier (VFW Gold) rehired. New Ulm Gold has dropped the Duluth Tournament and will play in Fergus Falls instead. New Ulm Gold will also host a four-team round robin tournament this summer with a yet-to-be named team from southern Wisconsin, Sioux Falls (S.D.) West, and either Sleepy Eye or Mankato. The state tournament this year is in Rochester.

SCHMIDT PLAYS WITH CELEBRITY: Former New Ulmite Luke Schmidt, who graduated from Gustavus Adolphus, is now working and living in the Twin Cities area. He is still playing basketball during the week in Edina and one of his teammates is the Vikings' Jim Kleinsasser.