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December 19, 1999
Too many second chancesNEW ULM -- Forty-one to 28. That was the advantage that Sibley East held over New Ulm on the boards Friday night. Those 13 rebounds coupled with a poor shooting night (36 percent by the Eagles) added up to a 59-55 loss to the Wolverines and dropped New Ulm to 1-2 on the young season. "We could not keep (6-foot-4 Dan) Pioske off the boards, especially on the offense end; everytime they came down and got two shots," said Eagle head coach Pat Burmeister. "When a team gets two shots at the basket, they are going to put up some points." Burmeister said that his team "has improved since the Hutchinson game but we still need to do the little things. If we are going to make a 'V' cut, we have to wait for our screen before we move to get ourselves open. We have to recognize the difference between an open shot and a not-open shot." In their last two games (USC and Sibley East) the Eagles have been out-rebounded, which is starting to concern Burmeister. "We spend a lot of time in practice working on the rebounding but we have not gotten better at it," he said. "It (rebounding) has to just become effort and hard work; most of the time, our opponents are going to be bigger and taller than we are. We need to get them away from the basket and go up and get the ball." The Eagles were out-rebounded despite Sibley East starting a smaller lineup than New Ulm did. COLD SHOOTING PERSISTS: Last year, one of the problems that the Eagles had most of the season was their cold shooting from the field. Part of that is the shot selection that the Eagles take. "We work on that and have the kids concentrate on the target," Burmeister said. "Part of that is practicing shooting and then recognizing when you are open and when you are not. Sometimes, we do not take very good shots; if we take better shot selection, we will make our shots. "We did not play well as a team. Plus, Mitch Stueber broke his (left) hand and he is going to be out six weeks." New Ulm hopes to get back on the winning track Tuesday night when they travel to St. James. CHARGERS USE INSIDE GAME FOR WIN: One of the things MVL head coach Craig Morgan stressed after his team's loss to McLeod West on Tuesday was that the Chargers needed to go inside more than they have been. Friday night they did just that as post Jesse Pfiefer scored 28 points in the win over Wabasso. "It (going inside) really worked well, especially in the second half," said Morgan. "The key was when we got that good defense in that second half. Plus, we scored more than four points in the second quarter; we started to believe in ourselves more." Morgan said that the Chargers' shot selection, which was not the best in the first two games, was better in the Wabasso game. "We didn't shoot up the first thing we saw; they played us a zone and then switched to a man, and our guards did a good job in recognizing what was going on and how to attack it." Morgan thought that the turning point in the game came in the third quarter. "We came out and wanted to play some good, pressure half-court defense and we did that in that quarter. That defense led to some fast-break baskets and if that (fast-break) wasn't there, we were patient on defense." This was a big win for the Chargers. First, it gives them some confidence. Second, they did not want to go into their game Tuesday night at Cathedral saddled with two losses. If you are going to attend the MVL-Cathedral game Tuesday night, be sure to get there early for a seat. When these two teams meet, the gyms are packed and loud. HOUNDS MUST REBOUND BETTER: New Ulm Cathedral must rebound much better against MVL Tuesday night than they did against a smaller Sleepy Eye team. "We need to rebound much better than we did," said Hound head coach Dan Wolfe. "Our front line has to do a much better job than they did against Sleepy Eye. "Plus we have to improve defensively, but that will come. The defense that we are playing takes time for a kid ot learn how to rotate and how to attack the basketball a bit quicker. And I think that we are just not there yet; we are a half a step slow, but as time goes on we'll get better on defense."
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