Czer, Moeller achieve milestones

NEW ULM -- History was made Saturday night here in New Ulm when two high school basketball players from this city cracked the 1,000-point mark in their basketball careers.

And the two -- Will Moeller of Cathedral and Erin Czer of MVL -- broke into that elite group 22 minutes apart. Both did it on their home court in front of family and friends.

For the record, Czer became the first member this year when she hit a jump shot with 8:16 left in the game. Moeller followed with his 1,000 point later that evening at the CHS gym when he sank the third of three free throws.

For both of them, it was the culmination of hard work and dedication to the sport of basketball.

Saturday morning prior to the Hounds' game with GFW, Moeller was doing what he usually does on Saturday mornings. He was coaching the Cathedral Super Hoopers, something that he has done all through his high school career.

Moeller was glad that the 1,000th career point was finally over. "It's a great accomplishment and I am glad to get it done with because now we can get on with the rest of the season," he said. "This was a big win for us tonight. We hope that this can get us going now."

The senior said that he did not feel pressure entering the game and needing 16 points to become the 12th CHS player to score 1,000 career points. "I think that it was more excitement than anything else because we knew that it would be a big game. It was a Saturday night home game; we had everyone here."

Moeller said that the Hounds went to a two-guard offense in the second half "which opened up the wing and the corner for me." And it was a Moeller trey, the 172nd 3-ball of his career, that got the Hounds going. "That got us going; we made some defensive plays (after that) and it is a lot easier to play when you make defensive stops."

Moeller, who averaged 21 points a game this season and also leads the team in assists, added something that perhaps no CHS player has ever done. He scored all the points (11) for the team in the fourth quarter. He was surprised when informed of that.

"I think that that is the first time that I have done that," he said.

Moeller is a product of the Super Hooper program, a program that he now coaches. He was coaching second graders that morning. It is his way of giving back to the program that started his basketball career.

"It is cool," he said. "Now, I am helping out the younger kids and I remember guys like Derick Bianchi, Matt Stueber and Chris Haugen coming in and helping us out when I was in the Super Hooper program. It is fun to help out the kids the way that I was helped out by the program."

Following the game, some of his players that he coaches in the Super Hooper program waited and got Moeller's autograph.

He said that the coaches "were nice and outgoing and always encouraged me. I want to do the same for them so they can be anything that they want to be in terms of basketball."

And who knows? Years from now, one of the Super Hoopers that Moeller is now coaching may be standing on the same spot that he was following scoring his 1,000 point and say "I remember being coached by Will Moeller in the Super Hoopers and ..."

CZER IS NUMBER THREE: MVL's Czer became the school's third girl to score 1,000 career points when she hit that jumper against Sleepy Eye High. The other two are Lisa Gronholz and Naci Melzer.

"I just wanted to get that (1,000th career point) over with," she said. "I was happy, but just wanted to get that over with."

Czer said that she did not feel that she had to score. "My teammates were really behind me and wanted me to score. When I got it, I was happy that it was over. I tried not to think about that and went out and played hard."

Czer is a good defensive player and uses that to score. "If you play good defense, the offense will come."

And Czer is also a product of her environment, having gotten her start in grade school basketball at St. Paul's Lutheran.

"When I was there, I watched Lisa Gronholz and Naci Melzer play for MVL and I was at the game when Naci scored her 1,000th career point," commented Czer. "I just thought that that was the coolest thing ever. I definitely looked up to those girls. They were my role models."

Next season, Czer will take her basketball talents to the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

GRONHOLZ PREPARES FOR SURGERY: Sarah Gronholz said that when the knee injury that ended her high school basketball career happened, she was, "thinking the worst. I really didn't know what the possibilities were, but I knew that I didn't do anything good to my knee."

Gronholz said that now she "is thinking the positives. I am not trying to dwell on the injury. I want to get into surgery soon so I can begin rehab and getting back on my feet."

Gronholz went to see a doctor Monday to look at the MRI of her knee and "hopefully we can schedule surgery soon."

She said that following her injury she talked to the team about the rest of the season. "I told them that they are still an exceptional team and they still have all the things that they need to go far in post-season. And just to have confidence in what they are doing.

"I am still there; I go to every practice and am on the bench for every game."

Despite the injury that cost her the season and her chance at 1,000 career points (58 points away), she does not feel cheated by the ACL injury.

"I feel disappointed that I am not going to be able to help my team along," she said. "But, again, I just want to try to stick to the positives because if I think of all the negative things, that will not help me at all."

Gronholz has been helping her replacement, Angie Unke, in games that Gronholz has missed. "She was the next post player and she has taken my position. She is still young, so me having more experience I just want to help her along so that she gets the confidence that she needs to play the role. She will step it up when she gets comfortable at that spot and she will do a good job."

Gronholz said that she does not look back to the JWP game where she sustained the injury and wonder if she should have just given the girl the lay-up instead of trying to block the shot from behind.

"My dad (Jack) said that I should have just ran down and yelled at her when I was behind her," said Gronholz. "But that is just the way that I play -- I don't feel right just running down there and letting her take the lay-up. I always play all-out and I went out doing what I love to do ... block shots."

CHS 1,000-POINT SCORERS: Her is the updated 1,000 career points for CHS basketball.

Steph Klaviter (1995) 1,694 (City of New Ulm record); Mike Wilfahrt 1,480; Martin Klinkhammer 1,282; Jesse Ahlbrecht 1,204; Mitch Lewis 1,131; Dan Haack 1,115; Tom Wolf 1,096; Ev Christensen 1,081; Tom Herbeck 1,069; Maria Boettger 1,022 and Will Moeller, 1006 (before tonight's game).

Column by Jim Bastian, Journal sports writer