Eagles end season with loss

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM - It was not the way that New Ulm High School boys basketball coach Pat Burmeister wanted to end his team's regular season.

Redwood Valley jumped to a 12-0 lead six minutes into the game and held a 23-2 lead two minutes into the second quarter and rolled by the Eagles 79-42 Monday night in non-conference basketball.

Jason Busack led the Cardinals (17-5) with a game-high 19 points.Aaron Busack added 13. Fourteen Redwood Valley players scored.

New Ulm (3-19) was led by junior Bob Wellmann who ended with eight points.

"This was a very disappointing performance and if you asked our kids, they would say the same thing," Burmeister said."We were very flat -- we did not have any energy on defense and did not execute at all on offense. We did not pass the ball, run the offense and play together, you are not going to get any shots."

Redwood Valley came out and took it to the Eagles right from the get-go.

The 6-foot-7 Aaron Busack showed the he had more than an inside game, hitting a 3-ball to start the scoring for the Cardinals. Chad Norberg's basket followed by baskets off two Eagle turnovers and a trey -- all by Jason Busack --lifted Redwood into a comfortable 12-0 lead before Bob Wellmann hit for the Eagles' first points with 1:10 left in the opening quarter.

"We did not have any energy on either end of the floor." Burmeister said. "You make some plays on defense to key your offense or your offense hits some shots to lift your defense. We came out flat and did not do anything on either end of the court. We played flat for the entire first half."

The Cardinals' 14-2 first quarter lead would grow to a 23-2 mark as Aaron Busack controlled the inside and Jason Busack canned a trey for that 21-point lead before John Witt, who finished with six points, hit a jumper at the 5:21 mark

Travis Fluck's trey gave Redwood a 30-6 lead with two minutes left in the half - a half that saw the Cardinals up 32-10.

"Our intensity level compared to the Fairmont game was not even close," Burmeister said. "Redwood is definitely a better team than Fairmont but we talked a lot about that to. It doesn't matter what we are doing on offense or defense or what we are playing. What determines how good we are is how much energy we put into the game -- how hard we work on it. We were absolutely terrible."

The Cardinals kept up their intensity level, building that 32-10 halftime lead into a 58-28 lead going into the final quarter.

New Ulm saw the Cardinal third-string New Ulm 21-14 in the fourth quarter.

"We need to get back to where we were last week (before playoffs begin),." Burmeister said. "We played well at Waseca and at home against Fairmont. To come out tonight was a disappointment and a letdown. Our expectations had gone up after last week. We took a step back -- it looked like we hadn't practiced at all. We should not take a step backwards after just two days off.

"We know that we played bad -- that is probably the bright spot that we can take away - we played better in the second half but we need to play solid all four quarters," Burmeister said.

The Eagle "B" squad lost 60-18. Jake Babel and Josh Date each had eight points.

The New Ulm "C" squad won 47-28. Mikale Gustafson led New Ulm with 14 points with John Besser adding 10. The "C" squad ends their season at 8-14.

REDWOOD VALLEY 14-18-26-21=79

NEW ULM 2-8-18-14=42

REDWOOD VALLEY (79): J. Busack 19, A. Busack 13, Ellingsworth 9, Fluck 7, Boe 4, Madson 4, Norberg 4, Scharleman 4, Yrjo 3, Olson 3, Nott 3, Meier 2, Bruns 2, Arnett 2.

NEW ULM (42): Wellmann 8, Leighty 7, Witt 6, Austvold 5, Budenski 4, Walden 2, Meyer 2, Mielke 2, Suess 1.