Larsen points CM/C in right way

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The Cedar Mountain/Comfrey boys basketball team had high expectations coming the regular season, and entered the season as the top seeded team in Section 2A, according to Minnesota Basketball News.

But the Cougars found out that it can be tough to fill in such big shoes, and stumbled out of the gate losing two of their first three.

The solution to the early season problem? Move Andrew Larsen to point guard from the post.

Larsen looked like a veteran at his new role as he led the Cougars to a 60-56 win over Minnesota Valley Lutheran Friday in Tomahawk Conference boys basketball action.

Larsen led the way for the Cougars with 23 points, five rebounds, six assists, and three steals.

"This is the second game we've had Andrew at the point, and he's not a typical Tomahawk Conference point guard," CM/C coach Keith Klawitter said. "We need to do that, because we need to get the ball into his hands."

Larsen said playing the point isn't foreign to him, but it's been a while since he's done it.

"I used to play point guard in elementary, so I've handled the ball before," Larsen said. "I just went out there and tried to control the offense and not create any turnovers."

For the Chargers, Ben Ziesemer poured in 21, 18 of them coming from beyond the arc. The teams got involved in a three-point shooting battle early in the fourth quarter, with Ziesemer hitting three in the final quarter.

"It looked like we were ready to die out there," Klawitter said. "You get tired, and the game is tight and it throws your shot off. But we took a few ill-advised ones there, but against MVL, you're happy with a bad three-point shot rather than turn the ball over."

The Cougars shot 8-of-32 from three-point range.

"We're a good three-point shooting team by reputation, so we were getting pretty good looks," Larsen said. "Sometimes they fall and sometimes not."

It didn't look like things were going to go the Cougars' way in the third quarter. Ziesemer hit a three-pointer to end the half and give the Chargers a 26-25 lead at intermission.

MVL then scored the first nine points in the second half to go up 35-25 before a Cougars timeout.

"It looked like the same thing that happened in the B-squad, and that's what we told them in the timeout there," Klawitter said. "I said, 'that's their run, now we gotta come back.' Our problem all year has been rebounding, and I felt we did better with that in the zone tonight."

The Cougars ended the run and scratched their way back into the game thanks to Larsen's eight points and a three from Cameron Mauer.

Larsen was an even bigger threat in the fourth quarter with nine points, and he made 5-of-6 from the line.

The Chargers also had problems on the offensive end and costly turnovers were enough to do them in.

"They came back and slowed it down, and we came back and threw the ball over the zone -- we threw it out of bounds three times I think in the second half," MVL coach Craig Morgan said.

For the Cougars, Brady Rose scored 12 points -- nine from three-point land. He also had nine rebounds. Tyler Kerkhoff scored 13 for CM/C (2-2, hosts New Ulm Cathedral Tuesday).

Besides Ziesemer, MVL (2-2, 1-2) was led by Tyler Morgan's 10 points and seven rebounds and David Nass' 10 points and eight rebounds. The Chargers committed 14 turnovers.

MVL travels to St. Croix Lutheran today.

Jeremy Behnke can be reached at jbehnke@nujournal.com