Sleepy Eye basketball open with win against Truman

Boys overcome loss of experience

BY JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- Monday night, Sleepy Eye Public boys' basketball coach Hadley got a pleasant surprise in the shape of a 65-54 win.

Tyler Jensen scored 18 points, Jason Schueler 14 and Andrew Rodriguez added 10 as the Indians opened their season with a win over Truman in non-conference basketball.

Mike Hinz led the Bluejays with a game-high 21 points.

Coming into this season, Hadley knew that this year's team had plenty of holes to fill.

The Indians lost the majority of their players from last year's squad. This year's varsity team would be made of a majority of players from last year's B squad.

"To win that first game is big," said Hadley. "The kids came out in that first quarter and shot unbelievably well. I did not anticipate shooting that well at all. Three pointers and having the early lead got the adrenaline going."

Truman jumped to an early 8-2 lead midway through the opening quarter. But the Indians, ignited by back-to-back three point shots from Rob Peterson and August Allen, tied the game. Consecutive hoops from Tim Domeier and a three-point play from Tyler Jensen gave the Indians a 15-8 lead with one minute left in the opening quarter.

That lead would grow to 21-10 after the first quarter on three-pointers from Schueler and senior Jake Radel as Sleepy Eye was 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.

Andrew Rodriguez came off of the Indian bench to put home two baskets early in the second quarter as the Indians saw their lead swell to a comfortable 27-12.

But some sloppy rebounding and perhaps a loss of intensity let the Bluejays slice that lead to 29-25 just seconds before halftime, sparked by a trey from Jeff Weihe. The Indians' Tyler Jensen swished a three-pointer with one second left in the half.

"They (Truman) had a couple of runs (in the first half) and they started to penetrate on us and we were not helping out on defense real well," said Hadley. "Tyler Jensen did a nice job in the post and he hit that big momentum shot just before halftime. We really needed a basket just before half, and I think that that basket sparked us."

And it did spark the Indians who came out in the third quarter and increased that eight point led into a 39-29 lead on Schueller's basket courtesy of a Truman turnover.

The Bluejays, who missed their first five threes in the third quarter, connected on three straight long bombs to pull to 46-43 to close out the quarter.

But August Allen's three-pointer to begin the final quarter saw the Indians outscore Truman 7-2 to hold a 53-45 lead. The Jays pulled to within 54-49 with three minutes left in the game.

However, a Jensen basket, a three-pointer from Schueler, and a basket from Jensen -- both off steals from Allen -- allowed the Indians to hang onto a 61-49 lead with 1:30 left in the game.

"I think that this team grew up a little -- we handled the pressure late in the game," Hadley said. "A.J. (Allen) came off of the bench last year for us -- he had a couple of really huge steals for us."

The Truman coach, Bill Klusmeier, is working his men hard this season.

In his third year as head coach, Klusmeier is pushing the men to work hard every night, and as a result of this work, he wants to see them be contenders for the conference title.

Last year the team won the majority of their games, ending the season with a record of 11-3 in the conference and 20-6 overall.

Four players who helped the team to that record will be back this season: Jay Stien, Brian Evans, Tim Petzel, and Kyle DeVlaeminck.

Other players Klusmeier will play are Jordan Berg, Adam Husfeldt, Mike Haefs, Chris Dolan, Kyle Podnatz, Phil Carter, Tim Bratsch, Corey Tackmann, and Mike Meyer.

Truman won the "B" game 53-30. Kevin Radel scored nine for Sleepy Eye

TRUMAN 10-15-18-11=54

SLEEPY EYE 21-11-14-19=65

TRUMAN (54)

Hintz 21, Weihe 11, Kettner 6, Hotzler 6, Shaw 5, Toothaker 5.

SLEEPY EYE (65)

Jensen 18, Schueler 14, Rodriguez 10, Allen 9, Domeier 6, Braun 3, Radel 3, Honeman 2.