2003 All-Journal boys' basketball team: Champions of basketball

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Remember when you were a kid and you went into the local candy store with only enough money to buy one item? The more that you looked at items that you wanted, the more your mind changed from one to another -- picking only one did not seem right.

That is the case with the 2002-2003 All-Journal Area Boy's Basketball Player of the Year.

Choosing between Wabasso's Brent Baune and St. James' Tyler Kaus as the Player of the Year was impossible, so both Baune and Kaus will share the honors as the Journal's Player of the Year.

Both have achieved greatness on the basketball court and both have also gained the praises of opponents, fans and their coaches.

If you ask Wabasso boys basketball coach Ryan Swanson to best describe his senior point guard Baune, he can give you a long list why Baune is so special.

"He was our floor general on our team," said Swanson, whose team went 22-5 and earned a sub-section title. "Any game that you are going to go into, you need a floor leader, and he was the one that our team went to and looked to. As a basketball player in general, he is a true champion."

This season, Baune scored 496 points but also handed out 216 assists and added 92 steals to his arsenal.

"He does what it takes off and on the floor to make our team win," Swanson said.

"And if that means scoring or passing off the ball for an assist, he does that."

"He is not our leading (career) scorer in the school (history) but he is the single-season and career assist leader at Wabasso," Swanson said.

Baune has a career assist mark of 561 and the single-season record of 220 in his junior year. He also has the state record for assists in a game at 23, which came in a 105-74 win over MVL.

The basketball fans of Wabasso have expected big things from Baune, who had 11 assists as a freshman before taking control of the Rabbit offense his sophomore year when he cracked the 100 assist mark with 114.

Since then, Baune's exploits on the court have kept Rabbit fans spellbound.

"He had 41 points against Red Rock Central -- you just let him go at that point," Swanson said. "He was shooting well and making great decisions. And the other game against MVL where he handed out all those assists was something else."

Baune, who was at the top of the Tomahawk Conference in scoring and assists, with 19 points per game coupled with just over eight assists per game, is a pure point guard, according to Swanson.

"When he plays college basketball, that will probably be his best spot," Swanson said. "He is an unbelievable ballhandler. He has his three or four turnovers a game (106 turnovers in 27 games this season), but he averages 10 assist a game."

Swanson added that none of Baune's rare turnovers came off his dribble.

"No one stole the ball from him. The turnovers all came from passes that someone missed or someone could have gotten their fingers on down low," he said. "So when you look at the turnover ratio, a 10-3 ratio, that is not bad."

"A kid like Brent comes along once every 10 years," said Swanson. "He will be tough to replace."

For his career at Wabasso, Baune scored 1,078 points, had those 561 assists along with 196 steals and 274 rebounds

Kaus, a junior waterbug point guard with lightning quickness, averaged over 25 points a game for the Saints this season.

He has 20 games of 20 points or more, eight contests of over 30 points and has scored 46 points in one game this season.

"He is a competitor -- he plays hard," said St. James coach Steve Walker about his junior ballplayer. "As far as his individual skills, he is able to create his own shot for his size (5-foot 8) -- he can create any shot that he wants to," Walker said. "If he wants to shoot from the perimeter, he can, and if he wants to drive, he is quick and strong enough to do that also."

Walker said that in his 15 years as head coach, Kaus "is the best point guard that I have coached here. We have had guys who have been more assist-orientated or more scoring-orientated, but with Tyler, he had over 100 assists this year and scored over 700 points. He will share the ball when necessary, but he took on more of a scoring role this year. He is the most complete player that I have had."

Walker said that Kaus "refuses to lose. He has that attitude where he will take a game over when we need him to -- he makes the big shots."

Kaus was able to make some big plays where even his veteran coach has seen his jaw drop at Kaus' skills.

"He has done things in games this year that I have been amazed at," Walker said. "He is so quick with the ball -- he has done around defenders. The night against New Ulm when he hit 10 three point shots was probably the most amazing things that I have seen."

This year, Kaus canned 120 treys which is second All-Time in the state of Minnesota.

Walker feels that Kaus, who already has scored 1,089 career points as a junior, is still developing.

Kaus is being recruited by many colleges in the North Central Conference, according to Walker.

"He can play at that level," Walker said. "People worry about his size. But he can play and is also strong defensively.

" I don't want to say that he cannot play in the Big Ten, but I see guys who play at that level and I think that if that was his desire, he would work hard enough to potentially do that."

Here is the rest of the 2002-2003 All-Journal Area Boy's Basketball Team.

DAN MATHIOWETZ, WABASSO: The junior averaged just under 15 points a game and 6.2 rebounds a contest. "He is a complete post player," said Swanson. "He had two games of over 30 points and was our most important player this year."

MATT SAMYN, WABASSO: Another junior for the Rabbits, Samyn scored 15.6 points a game. He also led the Tomahawk Conference in rebounds. "He can score off of the dribble, can spot up and shoot and can also post up for us," Swanson said.

TOM HAZUKA, NEW ULM CATHEDRAL: The senior averaged 17.5 points a game, which was third in the Tomahawk Conference. His career scoring average of 16.79 ppg is fifth on the career scoring list at Cathedral. "He has dedicated himself to the game of basketball," Cathedral coach Bailey Blethen said.

ANDY WALDEN, NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL: The senior scored at a 16.9 ppg clip and set the NUHS school record for three-point baskets made with 56 and is third in career three-point baskets at 72. He also added 35 steals this year. "He has worked very hard to improve his skills and has become a very good offensive player," said coach Pat Burmeister. Walden also maintains a 3.6 GPA.

ERIC AUSTVOLD,NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL: Austvold has been a three-year starter for the Eagles and has 177 assists in his career as New Ulm's point guard, which is third on the career list. This year, Austvold handed out 85 assists. "Our team's improvement this season is a direct result of his improvement," said Burmeister.

JAKE FIRLE, MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN: The senior led the Tomahawk Conference in scoring with a 21.3 average. His 1,224 career points is fifth on the Charger career scoring list. He holds six season records at MVL including points in a season (594), free throws attempted and made (150 and 95), field goal percentage (52 %). In his three years on the varsity, MVL went 69-13.

ANDY BIELKE, MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN: The junior point guard scored 345 points this season and handed out 184 assists while recording 126 steals. His high point game this year was 29 against Nicollet where he also handed out seven assists.

NATHAN NASS, MINNESOTA VALLEY LUTHERAN: Nass, a junior, scored 355 points this year along with 48 steals and 74 assists. Nass had a string of seven straight games where he scored in double figures.

JON DeROCK, GFW: Thunderbird basketball coach Rich Busse describes Jon DeRock as "the beginning of our offense in a game." He averaged 16 points a game but still handed out 4.5 assists a contest and hauled down six boards per game. Only a sophomore, he already has scored 606 career points, 220 rebounds, 192 assists and 148 steals.

JUSTIN DeROCK, GFW: Busse feels that Justin DeRock "is the most compete player in the area." Scoring 16 points a game, he also brought down eight rebounds a game and rejected 63 enemy shots this season. The senior ended his career at GFW with 557 points, 304 rebounds and 115 blocked shots.

TONY HULKE, NICOLLET: The senior led the Raiders with a 14.9 scoring average. In addition, he dished out 168 assists and had 61 steals. For his career, Hulke scored 1,583 points, had 533 assists and 306 steals.

MIKE ROSIN, NICOLLET:

Rosin led the Raiders with 185 rebounds this year and shot 82 percent from the free throw line. Rosin led the team in field goal percentage at 54.

JEFF ZIMMERMAN, NICOLLET: The sophomore hit on 62-143 three-point attempts (43percent) and also hit on 98-231 shots from the floor.

JAY STIEN, SIBLEY EAST: Stien scored 17.5 points per game for the Wolverines along with nine rebounds a game as he broke the 1,000 career point total for Sibley East.

DEREK LANOUE, ST. JAMES: The senior forward averaged 13.2 points a game and seven rebounds. He led the Saints in steals, assists, rebounds and blocked shots. He scored 737 career points.

THOMAS LARSEN, CEDAR MT.-COMFREY: Larsen, a junior, averaged 15.4 points a game and also brought down 6.3 rebounds a contest. He was the Cougars' MVP and was named to the Tomahawk Conference All-Conference team and also named to the Academic All-Conference squad.

MATT KELLY, CEDAR MT.-COMFREY: Kelly scored 10.4 ppg and was the Cougars' co-captain this year. He was named to the All-State Academic Team with a GPA of 4.0.

MATT MATHIOWETZ, SLEEPY EYE ST. MARY'S: Mathiowetz, a junior, scored 18 points a game which was second in the Tomahawk Conference. He was first in the conference in field goals and second in free throws. He was sixth in assists and second in steals in the conference. He was the MVP for the Knights and is an All-State nomination.

MATT GANGELHOFF, SLEEPY EYE ST. MARY'S: The sophomore for the Knights averaged 13.3 points a game and also handed off 70 assists as he was chosen to the Tomahawk Conference All-Conference team.

KYLE LUDEWIG, SLEEPY EYE ST. MARY'S: Ludewig,a 6-foot 5 junior center, scored 11.4 points a game for a very good Knights' team. He also hauled down 134 rebounds this year.

CRAIG BRAND, MADELIA: Brand was an All-Valley Conference pick as he averaged 17.8 points a game along with nine rebounds. "He was the leading scorer and rebounder for our team that overachieved this year," said Blackhawk coach Paul Carpenter.

TYLER JENSEN, SLEEPY EYE HIGH SCHOOL: Jensen, a junior, averaged 11.8 points a game and was eighth in the Tomahawk Conference in rebounding with just over six boards a game.

KIRK ENGEN, RED ROCK CENTRAL: Engen, a 6-2 senior forward, averaged 12.2 points per game. "He was a great defensive player that led the Falcons to the number one defense in the Red Rock Conference allowing only 47 points a game," said RRC coach Brian Walker.

MARK ENGEN, RED ROCK CENTRAL: The 6-foot 8 sophomore center scored 389 points (14.8 average) for the Falcons and blocked 130 shots (5.2 a game). He also brought down 225 rebounds this year and had 10 double-doubles this year.

LANCE BUSSLER, MCLEOD WEST: Bussler, a 6-foot 2 junior, averaged 12 points a game and 8.5 rebounds per contest. He also contributed 2.5 steals a game. "He was a marked man on our team this year," said coach Steve Worm. He was selected the Falcons' MVP and also their Offensive Player of the Year. He was also chosen as the team captain for next season.