NUC turnover woes allow MVL win

Tough Charger defense forces out-of-sync

Cathedral boys squad to make mistakes

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Maybe it was a sign of things to come when Minnesota Valley Lutheran's Andy Beilke turned a Cathedral turnover into the first two points of the game.

Twenty-nine Greyhound turnovers later, MVL had recorded their 10th Tomahawk Conference win of the season and improved to 14-6 overall with an 84-60 win over their crosstown rival Monday night.

Nathan Nass led the Chargers with a game-high 10 points. Andy Beilke tossed in 17 points with Jacob Firle adding 16 points. Beilke also added five more steals in the game and dished off nine assists.

Sophmore Joey Lux led Cathedral (5-9, 6-11) with 15 points -- all coming on treys. Adam Neubauer contributed 13 points.

"We just got hammered tonight," said Cathedral coach Bailey Blethen. "They beat us every way that they could beat us -- their defense is as good as any defense that we have played -- we were unable to handle any of their defense."

The MVL defense forced 30 Cathedral turnovers and turned them into 28 points.

"I thought that is one of our worst performances of the year," Blethen said. "And probably these guys are not in sync yet (not having four starters for four weeks). We did not get the job done."

MVL would never trail in the game, holding a slim 6-4 lead before a 6-0 run moved MVL out to a 12-4 lead.

"We did not know what to expect from them with some guys back and who were hungry to play," Charger coach Craig Morgan said. "The kids came through, shot well and we rebounded well."

MVL was 24-48 from the field through the first three quarters, and held a 44-30 rebounding advantage over Cathedral.

Baskets by Adam Neubauer, one coming on a three-pointer, pulled the Hounds to within 12-9 with three minutes left in the first quarter, but that would be the closest Cathedral would come as MVL ran off the next eight points for a 20-9 lead with less than a two minutes.

That lead would swell to 24-14 after the first quarter before Jake Firle's basket preceded back-to-back treys from Dustin Lendt and Andy Beilke for a 32-14 lead less than two minutes into the second quarter. The Chargers would succeed on 6-16 shots from beyond the arc in the game.

"When you get down by that margin, you try and take the game a segment at a time," Blethen said, as MVL would increase that lead to 45-23 with three minutes left in the first half. "But when we get down like that, we have not been able to come back. In close games, they stick with it, but when you get down like that, it is hard."'

Especially when the turnovers keep mounting.

"(Sleepy Eye St.Mary's and MVL) just thrashed us and forced the turnovers," Blethen said. "And the turnovers really concern me."

Sixteen Cathedral turnovers led to a 50-27 Charger lead at halfime as MVL hit on 17 of their 36 shots from the floor and three of 12 from three-point land.

"Our shooting was better tonight -- maybe we just got a bad shooting night out of the way against Wabasso (where MVL missed all 17 shots from three-point range)," Morgan said. "And they missed Tom (Hazuka, out with a knee injury) and that is a big loss for them. But we wanted to do the things that we do well. We pressured the ball, read their passes well and converted on the turnovers. I was happy with the effort."

The Chargers kept up their hot shooting to begin the third quarter, hitting their first six shots from the floor and succeeding on three of four from beyond the arc. They pulled away to a 74-34 lead, running off 19 straight points before Cody Fox and Joey Lux responded with baskets -- Lux coming on his third of five treys in the game.

"I thought that Joey Lux had perhaps his best game of the year," said Blethen. "But as a team, we did not get it together."

Morgan was pleased with the shooting of Nate Nass, who canned consecutive three-pointers in that third quarter. "He hit some big shots that he has not hit in recent games -- and we got everybody in the game."

MVL also won the "B" game 72-45. Tyler Morgan led MVL with 18 points with Jason Costello adding 14. Ryan Bauer paced Cathedral with 15 points.

NUC 14 13 12 15 -- 60

MVL 24 26 24 10 -- 84

CHS (60): Lux 15, Neubauer 13, Wilfahrt 8, J. Hazuka 7, Fox 6, Hoffmann 5, Scheiber 4, Schugel 2.

MVL (84): Nass 20, Beilke 17, Firle 16, Harpestad 7, Lange 7, Lendt 5, Holzhueter 4, Struck 2, Thiesfeldt 2, Krohn 2, Polzin 1, Shoop 1.

CM/C 53, GFW 41

FAIRFAX -- Cedar Mountain/Comfrey beat Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 53-41 Monday because of a distinct advantage in shooting.

The Cougars scored twice the points that the Thunderbirds had in both the first and fourth quarter -- GFW shot just 23 percent in the game and couldn't get the momentum going late in the game.

Andy Larson led the Cougars with 18 points and Brent Kapishke scored 12. Matt Kelly chipped in with 10 points for the Cougars.

Justin DeRock scored 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Thunderbirds. Tyler Schwecke scored 10.

GFW (9-8. 8-6) hosts McLeod West Friday while the Cougars (14-4, 10-4) hosts Springfield Friday.

CM/C 15 12 14 12 -- 53

GFW 7 14 14 6 -- 41