St. Mary's too much for Sleepy Eye

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- A deep knee bruise kept Sleepy Eye center Mike Petersen out of the lineup the past few games, but he showed how valuable he is to the Indians offense on Friday.

Unfortunately for Petersen and the rest of his teammates, the welcome back party was held at crosstown rival Sleepy Eye St. Mary's gym, and the Knights weren't about to toot their horns to welcome him back.

Petersen earned his keep, scoring 20 points and grabbing eight rebounds. But the Knights had too many weapons and improved to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the Tomahawk Conference with a 71-43 win.

After the game, Petersen said the Knights play a tough, frustrating defense.

"They play in-your-face defense, and they play a lot of help defense, and its just tough to get open," Petersen said.

"Mike Petersen's a nice player," St. Mary's coach Peter Roufs said. "He was calling for the ball, he caused a lot of problems for us. He rebounds well and scores well. (It was a) Great game for him."

While Petersen continually caused problems in the lane, Matt Gangelhoff caused problems out on the perimeter for the Knights. The senior guard hit two three-pointers to start the second half after the Knights struggled in the first half from outside, going 1-for-8.

The Woitas brothers, Alan and Andrew, also scored in double-figures for the Knights. Alan scored with 13 while Andrew scored 11.

"We were rushing shots in the first half," Alan Woitas said. "Once we were able to settle down, be patient, we were able to find an open shot."

Early on, it was Petersen's basket that tied the game at 6, but Alan Woitas hit a three-pointer to gIve the Knights the lead for good. Jake Bohnen found Alan Woitas underneath to put the Knights up 17-8 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, St. Mary's sophomore center Brian Milliard, who had 10 points and seven rebounds, scored to put his team up 22-10. Petersen countered with a putback, and Jason Schueler's three-pointer brought the Indians to within 22-15. Petersen later put back a rebound to make it 24-17 St. Mary's.

"I just tried to crash the boards, and try to help my team out by getting some putbacks," Petersen said. "

Petersen said it was a tough battle in the paint with Milliard, and his goal was to work hard on both sides of the ball.

"I knew he was a solid player down low, and I just wanted to try and contain him, and at the same time, try to work hard on the offensive end and rebound on both ends of the floor," Petersen said.

Both teams struggled from outside, going 1-for-8 from the perimeter, but the Knights held a 37-20 lead at the break.

The Knights worked the ball around more in the second half, and it allowed Gangelhoff to hit two three-pointers in the third quarter.

"We just try and find the open man and want to get it inside, and it opens everything else up," Alan Woitas said. "We're not going to shoot the ball well every night, but we can play defense every night -- that's something we work hard on in practice,"

The Indians never really got any closer and the Knights won 71-43. Jake Bohnen had eight points and eight rebounds for the Knights, and Schueler had 10 points for the Indians.

Sleepy Eye (3-4) is at LeCenter today, while St. Mary's takes on Mankato Loyola today, the team that knocked the Knights out of the playoffs a year ago in the Section 2A championship game. The Crusaders also eliminated the Knights in the football playoffs this fall.

"It's gonna be a fun one," Alan Woitas said. "Loyola beat us in football and basketball last year, so we're excited to try to go in there and get some revenge on them. We owe them a little bit."

Jeremy Behnke can be reached at jbehnke@nujournal.com