MVL advances to subsection final

By ANDY ROGERS

Journal Sports Editor

MANKATO -- The Minnesota Valley Lutheran boys basketball team advanced to the Section 2-2A West Subsection finals with a 71-57 win over Maple River.

The Charges will face St. James in the final at 6 p.m. in the Taylor Center at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Bryant Polzin led MVL with 21 points and Jacob Firle added 16. Jason Lohmiller grabbed 7 rebounds.

Todd Redig led Maple River with 12 points.

MVL dominated on the boards grabbing 32 rebounds to Maple River's 22 and that was the key point to winning the game.

"I was pleased with our rebounding," head coach Craig Morgan said. "When we got into trouble -- when they made a run at us is when we didn't rebound."

MVL also had much better night sinking 88 percent to Maple River's 40.9 percent on the evening.

Another key was to stop the three-point shot by Maple River.

"We had to get a hand up on the three-point shooters," Morgan said. "They're very good shooters."

Early on Maple River (19-5) jumped out to a 13-4 lead. Maple Rive went 3-4 from behind the arc in the beginning.

"They got a good run on us," Morgan said. "But we came back -- got some good steals and got some rebounds."

But MVL answered by putting some pressure on defense and a full-court press.

"When I watched Maple River play I thought that type of pressure could get some turnovers for us. And it did. We got a few off them," Morgan said.

MVL came back nine unanswered points to the game at 13-13 and eventually take the lead 19-16 by the second quarter.

MVL had a 23-4 run on before Maple River crawled back to make it 39-30 at the half.

Polzin led MVL in the first half scoring 15 points.

MVL's defense shut down Maple River holding them to nine points in the third.

In an attempted comeback, Maple River missed all its threes in the fourth.

Despite getting into some foul trouble late, Firle led MVL in the second half scoring 12 points.

"He made some good use of the minutes he was in there," Morgan said.