Falcons edge Cathedral

By PAUL DUNLAP

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- The Cathedral Greyhounds let one slip away Friday night as Andy Bauer's basket with :11 left on the clock propelled McLeod West to a 54-52 Tomahawk Conference boys basketball win.

Travis Bussler led the Falcons with a game-high 17 points. Teammate Matt Maiers added nine points and Bauer finished with eight. Joey Schugel had 14 points and Dave Groebner contributed 12 to lead Cathedral.

"We just couldn't take care of the basketball down the stretch," Hound head coach Dan Wolfe said. "That's disappointing ... we had the ball, and we had the lead with under a minute left. (McLeod West) had a foul to give but you have to close the game out on your home floor, and we didn't do that."

The game started slow before Bussler and Cathedral guard Will Moeller traded 3-pointers to knot the game at 7-7 early. Bussler would score seven points in the opening quarter as McLeod built a 17-13 lead after one.

"Our first concern (coming in) was Travis Bussler," Wolfe said. "We all know he's an all-conference player, and he's the type of kid that's going to make plays. He was certainly an important factor in their win tonight."

The second quarter was back-and-forth as a Schugel 3-pointer followed by a Moeller fast-break bucket gave the Hounds their first lead since the opening minutes, at 20-19. A Maiers jumper spurred the Falcons to a 6-2 run to end the half, up 25-22.

"We're all disappointed at the level of intensity tonight," Wolfe said. "We were much more intense Monday night against (Sleepy Eye) St. Mary's. Give McLeod credit -- their kids played hard -- but we didn't come out with the type of energy you need to make things happen."

Cathedral would wake up a little bit after half as Schugel and Groebner scored the first two baskets of the third quarter, but Bussler came back with another trey followed by a Maiers jumper to give the Falcons another four-point edge at 36-32.

Tony Moldan was the Hounds' sparkplug as he came in early in the fourth and hit a 3-pointer, one of three he would nail in the final quarter. His third came with 1:41 left to give Cathedral a 50-49 lead, and Groebner followed with a hoop off a nice assist from Moeller to push the lead to three with a minute left.

"We thought that (McLeod) was overplaying a bit on (guards) Joey Schugel and Will Moeller," Wolfe said. "We thought we could get some shots at the top of the key, and Tony Moldan did a nice job coming off the bench after not having played the whole game.

"We have confidence that Tony can shoot the basketball, and that's a good spot for him ... he's a good shooter from the top (of the key). He knocked one down right away, and hit a couple more for us that really gave us a lift and kept us in the game."

Cathedral would then commit two costly turnovers in the final seconds -- one that led to Aaron Mielke's two free throws with :24 left and another that led to Bauer's bucket. The deal was sealed as Maiers stole the inbounds pass, and Mielke hit another free throw with one tick on the clock. For the game, McLeod West made 12 free throws to Cathedral's one.

With the loss, Cathedral drops to 2-1 on the season. The Greyhounds will travel to face Sleepy Eye High Tuesday.

The Hound B-squad (1-2) fell to the Falcons 55-45 despite Tom Hazuka's 20 points. Teammate Dustin Wilfahrt added 16.

The C-squad (2-1) won 38-36. John Wurtzberger led Cathedral with nine points.

McLEOD WEST 17 8 12 17--54

CATHEDRAL 13 9 12 18--52

McLEOD WEST (54): Bussler 17, Maiers 9, Bauer 8, Loncorich 6, Mielke 5, Kirsch 5, Schuster 4.

CATHEDRAL (52): Schugel 14, Groebner 12, Moldan 9, Moeller 9, Goblirsch 6, Osborne 2.