Ludewig powers Knights past NUC

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- Before their game with New Ulm Cathedral, Sleepy Eye St. Mary's boys basketball coach Peter Roufs told his team that they had to come out with intensity.

To say the Knights listened to their coaches word may be an understatement.

The Knights jumped to a 23-10 lead after the first quarter and never looked back as they crushed the Greyhounds 80-41 Tuesday night in a Section 2A North quarterfinal game.

Kyle Ludewig led the Knights with a game-high 26 points. The 6-foot-5 senior also became the sixth Sleepy Eye St. Mary's player -- and the second this season -- to reach the 1,000 career point total. Matt Mathiowetz cracked the 1,000 career point barrier earlier this season.

Ludewig was assisted by 18 points from Matt Gangelhoff and 10 points each from Matt Mathiowetz and Joey Wahl.

Adam Neubauer led the Greyhounds with 10 points as they end their season with a 6-19 record.

St. Mary's will now play Springfield at 5 p.m. Thursday at Martin Luther College. The Tigers advanced with a 78-64 win over LeCenter.

"We wanted to come out with that intensity," Roufs said. "You look around and there are upsets that happen all around in tournaments. We have been on both ends of them and so it was important that we started well. The kids were ready."

The Knights never trailed in the game, taking a quick 13-4 lead on buckets from Matt Gangelhoff, Mathiowetz and Kyle Ludewig with 3:40 left in the first quarter.

That lead would swell to 23-10 after the first break as St. Mary's hit all nine of their shots from the field

That hot shooting continued in the second quarter as they moved in front 32-12 on baskets from Mathiowetz and Ludewig coupled with a steal and a bucket from Gangelhoff followed by a trey from the junior.

'We wanted to pump up the tempo and make it a high possession game," Gangelhoff said, who was one of three players (Ludewig and Mathiowetz were the other two) who had reached double figures by halftime. "We wanted to break them down by running on them."

That 32-12 lead ballooned to a 40-16 advantage on two Gangelhoff buckets and two free throws from Mathiowetz that gave them that 24-point lead with 3:12 left in the first half.

'They outplayed us in every aspect of the game tonight," Cathedral coach Bailey Blethen said, who saw the Knights hit 18-of-21 shots from the field in the first half and hit 27-of-35 through three quarters. "This was probably one of our poorest games of the year. They ran their offense well -- they made our defense look silly."

"We feel that we can score from anywhere on the floor," Roufs said. "Tonight, with the movement of the ball - the open guy got to take his shot and it went in."

St. Mary's kept up the intensity in the third quarter, hitting hitting its first six shots to take a 58-27 lead as the Greyhounds' Adam Neubauer hit for seven of their first 10 points of the quarter.

Leading by 66-33 after three quarters, the only question was when and if Ludewig would score his 1,000th career point. That came with 6:03 left in the game when he buried an 11-foot jumper from the wing. The basket gave the Knights a 72-35 lead.

"My hands were getting tight as I got closer (to 1,000 points), but my team fed me the ball and I got it done," he said.

'It was a huge night for Kyle -- it was nice to get it out of the way," Roufs said. "He has been a great player for us for the last four years and the honor is well-deserved."

Blethen said that it was a down year for the Hounds.

"We have only won two games since Christmas. We had played better in the season until tonight."

CATHEDRAL 10 7 16 8 -- 41

SESM 23 23 20 14 -- 80

CATHEDRAL (41): Neubauer 10, Schugel 8, Fox 6, Reinarts 5, Hazuka 5, Schwarz 3, Forst 2.

SESM (80): Ludewig 26, Gangelhoff 18, Mathiowetz 10, Wahl 10, Millard 4, Moldan 4, Bohnen 2, Biesanz 2, Martinez 2, Andrew Woitas 2.