Chargers roast Cardinals

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- When Minnesota Valley Lutheran's Andy Beilke put in a rebound basket with five and one half minutes left in the game, it gave the Chargers a comfortable 76-54 lead over Fairmont.

But the Cardinals, who were guilty of 26 turnovers in three quarters, outscored MVL 24-7 in the next three minutes before the Chargers sank 12 of their next 14 free throws to come away with a 91-76 win over Fairmont in Sub-section 2A play.

Jake Firle led MVL (20-6) with a game-high 30 points. Nate Nass added 18 and Andy Beilke contributed 17.

Mike Laue led Fairmont, who finishes their season at 9-14, with 27 points. Simon Leuth netted 16 points and Jake Clement 10.

"I thought that we played three good quarters," said Charger coach Craig Morgan. "But the fourth quarter - we can get rid of that."

The Chargers, who scored 27 points off 26 Cardinals turnovers through three quarters, seemingly had the game in hand after Beilke's bucket.

But Fairmont, with 6-foot-8 center Mike Laue on the bench, got back in the contest. A Chris Gerhardt free throw was the beginning of an 11-0 Fairmont run that saw the Cardinals, who trailed by 26 points late in the third quarter, eventually slice the lead to 80-72 with 2:04 left in the game.

MVL was guilty of 11 turnovers in the final quarter.

"We were disappointed with our performance in the fourth quarter," Morgan said. "We had a letdown -- we had almost a 30 point lead, and we almost gave it up. We made it into a close game."

Morgan said that Fairmont pressed his team in that final eight minutes. "But that should not have mattered -- I think that the success that we had in the third quarter (where the Chargers scored 35 points) would carry over to the next quarter," he said. "Fairmont can come back -- and we knew that they would -- they came back from some pretty big holes."

And it appeared that the Chargers were going to put Fairmont into a hole that they would never climb out of as they forced 11 Fairmont turnovers in first quarter. Those led to 12 of their 22 points.

A trey from Beilke and a Mark Theisfeldt bucket, both courtesy of back-to-back Cardinal turnovers, saw MVL with an 18-8 lead before Nate Nass' rebound basket moved the Chargers to a 22-12 lead after the first quarter.

Fairmont would try and stay in the game on the strength of Laue inside, who accounted for eight of their 13 points in the second quarter.

But once Laue was denied the ball via turnovers, MVL increased their lead from 28-21 to 35-21 because of their press.

"Our game plan was that their guards might be a little susceptible to some of the pressure. We could get one turnover and then come back and get another right away," Morgan said. "We did not want them to get the ball inside to Laue or Joe McFarland. If we kept the ball out of their hands, we thought that we would be alright."

Laue accounted for 12 of the 25 Cardinal points in the first half as the Chargers carried a 37-25 lead at halftime.

"He (Laue) is a good player with some nice moves," said Morgan. "We did not get our help-side defense and our guys coming down to help out."

MVL saw their lead waver from 14 points to begin the third quarter to a 70-44 lead on Andrew Harpestad's free throw with 37 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

"The one good thing about the fourth quarter was that we shot our free throws well," said Morgan, whose team shot 15-23 and 24-46 in the game. "And we played good enough to play another day."

The Chargers advance to face Blue Earth Area in the 2AA West semifinals Thursday at Mankato West high school at 8 p.m.

FAIRMONT 12 13 21 20 -- 76

MVL 22 15 35 19 -- 91

FAIRMONT (76)

Laue 27, Lueth 16, Clements 10, Schmidtke 9, Klutz 5, Gerhardt 5, Frette 2, McFarland 2.

MVL (91)

Firle 30, Nass 18, Beilke 17, Lendt 9, Shoop 6, Harpestad 3, Struck 3, Thiesfeldt 2, Lange 1, Petersen 1, Morgan 1.