Chargers fend off Raiders for win

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NICOLLET -- It's something that coaches preach to their players until they're blue in the face all season long, yet it's something most players will tell you isn't something they like to work on: free throw shooting.

Minnesota Valley Lutheran's offense may have been in early season form, but the shooting from the free-throw line was where the Chargers want it to be come March as the Chargers held off Nicollet's rally to win 59-53.

Nicollet's Jeff Zimmerman, who nearly brought the Raiders back a year ago after his team trailed by 20 heading into the fourth quarter, supplied the drama again and poured in 27.

But Zimmerman was guarded heavily in the final minute of the game, and the Raiders were forced to fire up two bad shots late in the game. He managed to hit a three-pointer that made it 57-53 MVL, but free throws proved to be the difference in the end.

"I take away MVL's defense on that," Zimmerman said. "They took away what we wanted to do and forced us into some bad shots that didn't turn out."

The Chargers hit 6-of-7 from the line in the final eight minutes.

"We hit some free throws, and that was a big thing for us down the stretch," MVL coach Craig Morgan said. "The game was won for us on the free throw line, and they made their comeback with the three-pointer."

The Raiders had the edge early when Mike Rosin hit a three-pointer to give them an 8-4 edge. But both teams showed first-game jitters on offense. While Nicollet never really got comfortable with the offense in the first half, the Chargers looked a little too comfortable with several cross-court passes of theirs getting picked off.

"We came out first game of the year, and we were all excited, and we just never let it slow down and come to us," Zimmerman said.

"We talked about [that] they wanted the game at that point more than we did," Morgan said. "We had guys that thought they could just sit back and make a pass. The ball was on the floor and we didn't get guys on the floor. We're going to have to be a team that gets scraped knees."

The Chargers took a 14-13 lead on Luke Beilke's layup as time expired.

MVL's Ben Ziesemer upped the lead to 20-14. Zimmerman hit a late-three pointer just before the half, but MVL led 30-25 at halftime.

Zimmerman said the Raiders are trying to compensate for the loss of post player Jamie Mettler, and he found himself in the paint often in the first half.

"We lost a big portion down there when Mettler graduated," Zimmerman said. "We'll just move some guys around and we're still trying to figure out what we're going to do."

The Chargers began to slowly pull away in the third quarter, and a three-point play by Tyler Morgan and a David Nass basket pushed the lead to 41-33.

But Zimmerman provided deja vu when he hit a couple of three-pointers in the fourth quarter, trimming the MVL lead to 51-49.

The Chargers were able to force the ball out of Zimmerman's hand in the final 1:30, and they hit free throws the rest of the way.

Nicollet (0-1) is at New Ulm Cathedral at 7:30 tonight while the Chargers (1-0) host Springfield Friday.

Jeremy Behnke can be reached at jbehnke@nujournal.com.