MVL's Unke takes scoring mark in stride

NEW ULM -- On December 2, 1997, the MVL Chargers opened their boys basketball season with a 59-55 win over Nicollet. In that game, freshman Dan Unke scored 15 points in his first varsity start.

Four years and 1,634 points later, Unke is the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,649 points, having broken Tim Merseth's mark of 1,630 set back in 1996, one year before Unke came to MVL from Lake Mills, Wisc.

Now Unke is nearing the City of New Ulm scoring record held by Steph Klaviter of 1,694 points, which she set back in 1995.

"It (setting the MVL scoring record) could not have happened to a nicer person," said Charger coach Craig Morgan. "He is the ultimate team player and records do not mean a lot to him. What matters to Dan is if the team wins or not. That is what he is concerned about. If he scores one point and we win, he is happy."

And anyone who has seen Unke play knows that he is more than just a scorer.

Unke has hauled down 718 rebounds thus far in his career, which puts the future MLC player third on the all-time MVL list. His 262 assists place him fourth in the school's history.

Here is the list of the top 21 basketball scorers in New Ulm history. 1) Klaviter (1995) 1,694; 2) Unke 1,649; 3) Merseth (1996) 1,640; 4) Dave Begalka MVL (1987) 1,588; 5) Mike Wilfahrt CHS (1978) 1,480; 6) Naci Melzer MVL (1994) 1,440; 7) Aaron Bauer MVL (1995) 1,300; 8) Martin Klinkhammer CHS (1996) 1,282; 9) Luke Schmidt NUHS (1995) 1,211; 10) Jesse Ahlbrecht CHS (2000) 1,204; 11) Lisa Gronholz MVL (1994) 1,184; 12) Mitch Lewis CHS (1998) 1,131; 13) Dan Haack CHS (1986) 1,115; 14) Tom Wolf CHS (1961) 1,096; 15) Will Moeller CHS (2001) 1,095; 16) Scott Hansen NUHS (1968) 1,093; 17) Ev Christensen CHS (1953) 1,081; 18) Erin Czer MVL (2001) 1,079; 19) Tom Herbeck CHS (1964) 1,069; 20) Brandon Meyer MVL (1997) 1,051; 21) Maria Boettger CHS (1997) 1,022.

Tiffany Young, who played for MVL until the beginning of her senior season before transferring to New London-Spicer finished with 1,041 but is not recognized on the MVL list. Also Bethany Bauer, who attended MVL until after her sophomore year before transferring to Lakeside Lutheran in Lake Mills, Wisc., has 1,141 points.

Incidentally, Bauer's Lakeside Lutheran Warrior team played for the D-III Wisconsin High School title last night. In the win Thursday, she had seven points and seven assists. She will attend MLC next year.

HOUNDS SEASON RECAPPED: Cathedral boys basketball coach Dan Wolfe said that his team "played much better the last month of the season. We had a little bit more scoring balance and I thought that Joey Schugel finished the season on a real up-note for us; we all played better that last month.

"I don't think that we were satisfied with our record (10-12 and a seventh-place finish in the Tomahawk Conference); we lost some close games early in the season (the Hounds' first three conference losses were by a total of 11 points)."

In fact, eight of the Hounds' 12 losses were by 11 points or less. Cathedral outscored its opponents by an average of 60-55 during the season.

"I thought that going into the tournament, we were playing our best basketball and there were a lot of teams that had the chance to be in the title game," Wolfe said. "This was a very good league and after MVL (23-2 so far), it was very balanced. The teams that were in the semifinals (Sleepy Eye St. Mary's, Cedar Mountain/Comfrey and Sleepy Eye Public), we split with those teams during the year. From the effort standpoint and chemistry, it was a good group to work with."

Wolfe said that the eight losses by less than 11 points was a case of not always consistent either on offense or defense. "In the past, we were fortunate to have a kid in the middle who we could count on for 20 points and 10 rebounds each game. We did not have that type of post play this year where we had that dominant kid inside which keeps the pressure off the perimeter game. You don't need to rely on shooting from the outside as much In our last game we did not shoot the ball well (7-of-33 from beyond the arch) and we were not able to recover from that."

Wolfe said that he will miss graduating guards Joey Schugel and Will Moeller next year. "There were seven games in a row where Will scored 22 or more points for us; there were games were we would not have won without him. Against GFW (where Moeller got his 1,000th career point) he scored 22 of our 37 points (a 37-36 CHS win).

"Joey led us in three categories this year from the off-guard. He led us in steals, rebounding and 3-point field goal percentage."

Next season, Wolfe looks to Brandon Goblirsch and Billy Schreiber for post play. "Schreiber was our second best free throw shooter this year. For a post player, that will be a plus for us."

He said that he hopes that Luke Schmitz "will be able to run the point guard spot for us next year and we know that Tony Moldan will be a good off-guard. We also think that Jacob Mertz can develop into a good forward for us."

BURMEISTER KNEW IT WOULD BE TOUGH SEASON: Coming into this season, New Ulm High boys basketball coach Pat Burmeister knew that it would be a tough season.

"We knew that we would not be as good as we were last year and it would be a challenge to reach the .500 mark," said Burmeister, who has a 39-100 record in his six years. "It was still disappointing (5-18 record)."

But seven of New Ulm's losses were by less than 11 points, which is essentially three possessions.

"The kids played well and we had a lot of success," he said. "We only had 10 kids out and I think that made the team closer and they improved a lot. We did not have that experience to make that shot when we needed it. We had a few too many turnovers during the season. And our size hurt us."

New Ulm did not have a starter bigger than 6-foot-4.

"Mark Newman, Charles Ganske and Rob Geistfeld did a nice job inside considering every night they were giving up 2-3 inches. If you don't have a dominating inside game to go to, you are at a big disadvantage."

SCHMIDT DOES BEST: Senior Matt Schmidt, who was the Eagles' leading scorer this year, was asked to do a lot this year -- from point guard to post player.

"I think that by the end of the year, Matt was getting tired," commented Burmeister. "He was playing between 30-31 minutes a night. He played point guard and set up the offense and then move him inside. I think by the end of the year he was wore down, not only physically but mentally."

Two sophomores -- Bobby Wellmann and Eric Austvold -- were made starters and showed signs of improvement during the season. "Eric was on the varsity last year as a freshman so he had some experience," said Burmeister. "He was always a point guard coming through our system but this year we moved him to the 2-guard, so he was out of place and a change for him which he struggled with. Bobby improved a lot; when you play sophomores, you live and die with their mistakes but we have both of them back for two years and they will improve."

Burmeister said that he does not know who else will help off the B-squad. "There are some good players there, but it depends on how much they work. And Charles Ganske (a senior next year) will be better."

TWO TEAMS IMPROVE: Two teams who really improved a lot were Sleepy Eye Public and McLeod West. Sleepy Eye, for the second straight year, doubled their win total and now have basketball pride back in Sleepy Eye under coach Ted Critchley. And McLeod West, who played a great game in a double-overtime loss to the Indians, also played well. Coach Steve Worm and the players he coached deserve a lot of credit.

BERANEK LEADS HOUNDS: Kristin Beranek led the Cathedral girls basketball team this year with a 13.5 points-per-game average, followed by 11.3 from Cathy Boettger. Boettger also led CHS with 111 rebounds, with Mary Sue Miheve hauling down 104 boards. Liesl Genelin handed off 67 assists, with Beranek second at 51. Boettger also led the Hounds with 10 blocked shots. Beranek and Boettger were 1-2 in steals with 67 and 59 respectively.

Column by Jim Bastian, Journal sports writer