Disorder reigns in Charger-Falcon gameMVL, McLeod West combine for 58 turnovers and 46 fouls in Charger win

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- In a game that had a combined 58 turnovers and 46 fouls, the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers boys' basketball shook off a 10-day layoff with an 85-62 win over McLeod West Monday night in a Tomahawk Conference game.

Jake Firle led the Chargers 12-4, 15-6) with a game-high 20 points with Nate Nass contributing 17 and Andy Beilke 11.

Lance Bussler led the Falcons (1-16, 1-17) with 15 points.

"The layoff really hurt us tonight," said Charger coach Craig Morgan, who will take his team to Nicollet tonight to battle the Raiders. "We looked like we were really rusty.

"We did not practice Friday or Saturday because of a tournament that we had (at MVL) and it showed," he said. "We had guys tired -- we had guys who were making bad decisions, and I give them a lot of credit -- they played hard."

And that play kept the Falcons in the game for the first quarter as they trailed the Chargers by only a 7-5 margin before Dustin Lange, Jake Firle and Nate Nass all scored baskets, all of the points coming on three straight Falcon turnovers for a 13-5 lead.

The Falcons would be guilty of 36 turnovers in the contest.

McLeod West, despite the turnovers, came back into the game at 21-17 on a Lance Bussler basket followed up by two free throws from the junior.

But after a Nass basket, the turnover bug again hit the Falcons, and Lange, Andy Beilke and Lange again scored off of Falcon miscues for a 29-17 lead.

That lead swelled to a 37-21 lead before McLeod West again came back on two Bussler treys, two free throws from freshman Brian Duehn, 2-12 in the game, as the Falcons put 20 points on the board in the second eight minute span.

"We scored (31 points) in the second quarter, but we gave up a lot of points in transition," Morgan said. "We did not get back on defense -- we were trying to do a little pressing. But you get out of that practice mode and the mechanics are not there.

"We had guys making bad decisions and making bad decisions late, so they shot layups for their points," he said. "They broke our press real well."

Dustin Lendt's rebound basket and back-to-back baskets by Firle to start the third quarter saw the Chargers comfortably ahead at 56-35 with just over a minute gone in the third quarter.

Two baskets by Bussler, one coming on his third trey of the night, cut the lead to 56-38. MVL again tried to shake off the cobwebs just under two minutes later with a 9-0 run sparked by baskets from Nass and Firle for a 71-41 lead with 1:10 left in the third quarter.

"Both Jake and Nate had good games tonight," Morgan said. "Nate offensively had a good game and Jake must have had five steals tonight.

"They (McLeod West) started smaller guys," he said. "So they (Nate and Jake) had to get out on the perimeter and guard a few different people who had different skills on the outside."

MVL increased their 73-45 lead after three quarters to an 82-46 cushion as reserve Grant Holzhueter canned four free throws, Andrew Harpestad scored on a pass from Dustin Lendt, and Karl Struck sank two charity tosses with 5:34 left in the game.

Morgan said that he was disappointed not only with the 22 turnovers by his team, but he was also disappointed with the 25 fouls whistled on his team.

"We had lazy fouls -- we were not moving our feet," he said. "We just plain reached, and we cannot play defense like that against Nicollet."

MVL won the B-squad game 47-40. David Petersen led the Chargers with 15 with Paul Bunkowske adding 14. Justin Olson paced McLeod West with 10.

MWEST 13 20 12 17 -- 62

MVL 19 31 23 12 -- 85

MCLEOD WEST (62): Bussler 15, Duehn 12, Woller 10, Rettig 8, Hedtke 4, Strand 4, Pichotta 3, Bumgardner 2, Ahlbrecht 2, Maurer 1, Buckentin 1.

MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN (85): Firle 20, Nass 17, Beilke 11, Lange 9, Lendt 8, Holzhueter 5, Harpestad 4, Schoop 3, Struck 3, Krohn 3, Petersen 2, Halvorson 1.