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February 29, 2000
Chargers trounce BLHBy BOB VARMETTE Journal Sports Writer NEW ULM -- Winning the Tomahawk Conference title was a mere formality. And the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers made the formality reality, dispatching the Buffalo Lake-Hector Mustangs 89-53 Monday night in boys basketball on Parents' Night. Having the chance, though, was something the Chargers were glad to have. It was just 17 days ago that Cedar Mountain beat MVL and seemingly had the inside track to the conference crown. "We knew (Cedar Mountain) had a tough schedule the rest of the way," MVL coach Craig Morgan said. "In this conference, you can't take anyone for granted on any night. We knew if we could just win and play our game, somebody might do us a favor. We got a couple of favors." The thanks goes out to the Wabasso Rabbits and the New Ulm Cathedral Greyhounds. They handed Cedar Mountain two losses in its last three conference games to give the Chargers a chance to win the title outright. "When we lost to Cedar Mountain, we knew that the conference title was in our hands," senior MVL guard Jay Wendland said. "We were disappointed that we let that chance slip away. But we were happy when we got our chance back to win the title tonight." MVL (18-4, 15-3) showed no mercy. "Our guys were impressed with how aggressive they were," BLH coach Curt Grachek said. "We're not a very aggressive team, so them being aggressive took us out of playing together." BLH (1-21, 1-17) turned the ball over 35 times. And many of those turnovers begat easy layups as the Chargers' transition game shifted into high gear. "Our defense is made for the traps," Wendland said. "It's made to take chances on the steals. We did a really good job of anticipating the steals, and got a lot of layups off it in the first half by creating turnovers." The game was essentially all but over after the first quarter. MVL forced nine BLH turnovers in the first quarter as the Chargers broke open a 4-all game by outscoring the Mustangs 24-7 to end the first quarter. "I think we threw them the ball more times than we threw each other the ball," Grachek lamented. "That comes from guys getting frantic when were trapped." Justin Ohm scored 10 of his 13 points in the first quarter and Dan Unke tallied six of his 12 points in the opening eight minutes. Jesse Pfeifer led MVL with 14 points and Tom Metzger also reached double figures for the Chargers with 10 points. Barry Folkens led BLH with 19 points. Derek Nelson added 11 and Joel Schulz 10 for the Mustangs. In the second quarter, BLH started to show some signs of working back into the game, closing to 30-17 with six minutes left in the first half. But two more quick turnovers by BLH translated into easy transition baskets by Metzger and Pfeifer, and Liggett added a bucket to give the Chargers a 36-17 margin, which they would not see threatened the rest of the game. "The first half was good," Morgan said. "The second half we came out a little flat. Not a little flat, we came out flat. Everything was going so well in the first half, I didn't have too much to say in the locker room. Halftime was just too long for us. We would have rather kept on going." The break between the halves did take a little out of the Chargers' sails. After shooting 20-for-35 (57.1 percent) in the first two quarters, MVL cooled to 44.7 percent in the third quarter. The Chargers shot 37-for-73 (50.8 percent) for the game. Thirteen of the 14 MVL players suited out for the game scored and the Charger reserves acquitted themselves well in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Mustangs 19-8. "MVL goes always 10 or 11 players deep," Grachek said. "We only go about seven deep. We don't have the lung capacity to stay on the court that long." In the junior varsity game, MVL routed BLH, 56-27. Eleventh-seeded BLH will be at Nicollet at 7 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the Section 2-1A, North Subsection tournament. MVL -- the subsection's No. 1 seed -- received a first-round bye and will host the Cleveland-Sleepy Eye High first-round winner at 7 p.m. Saturday. BLH 11 16 18 8--53 MVL 28 21 21 19--89 BLH (53): Berg 0-2 0-0 0, Kramer 0-2 0-1 0, Robbins 1-3 0-0 2, Folkens 7-11 3-4 19, Nelson 3-8 5-6 11, Moore 1-4 0-0 2, Wegscheid 2-6 0-0 4, Schulz 4-12 2-4 10, Olinger 2-8 1-2 5. Totals 20-56 11-17. MVL (89): Liggett 2-5 0-0 4, Metzger 5-8 0-0 10, Enter 3-7 0-0 6, Mielke 1-6 3-4 5, Ohm 5-8 0-0 13, Bendix 1-3 0-2 2, Lohmiller 1-1 0-0 2, Unke 6-10 0-0 12, Beilke 2-3 4-4 8, Kramer 0-4 0-0 0, Ross 1-3 3-3 5, Wendland 3-4 0-0 7, Polzin 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 37-73 11-14 89. 3-point goals--BLH 2-5 (Folkens 2-2, Kramer 0-1, Robbins 0-1, Schulz 0-1), MVL 4-11 (Ohm 3-5, Wendland 1-2, Kramer 0-1, Enter 0-1, Metzger 0-1, Liggett 0-2). Fouled out--None. Total fouls--BLH 10, MVL 13. Rebounds--BLH 33 (Folkens, Nelson, Schulz 6), MVL 40 (Ross 5). Turnovers--BLH 35, MVL 23.
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