Coach issues challenges; response successful
This team may be 14-1 and on a collision-course with history. They may just exceed all the records of any Minneota High School Boys' Basketball team.
Yet, Coach Dave Busselman hasn't extracted every ounce of effort, every ounce of, shall we say, blood, sweat and tears, he wants from his players.
So Thursday night he challenged senior leader Issac Hennen. And what he got was exactly what he wanted — a yeoman's effort by Hennen and a nice 83-52 win over Yellow Medicine East.
It could have been worse, but "running time" sped the result to its conclusion.
"I challenged Isaac to be more aggressive under he basket. I told him to look to score and rebound," said the coach.
Hennen did just that ... scoring 14 poinrts, hitting four of his five free throws and hauling down a team-leading nine rebounds.
With Isaac Hennen slamming toward the basket for points and rebounds — and the outside shots falling to the tune of 50 percent (12 three-pointers), Coach Jake Suter of Yellow Medicine East watched a pretty good effort by his junior guard Bennett Knapper wasted.
"He really can shoot, can't he," said Coach Suter. Knapper banged in six, three-pointers and scored 24 points to lead both teams in scoring.
"We have gotten much better shooting. But we're still not playing defense or hitting the boards," said The Sting coach.
Minneota countered with Thomas Hennen, who scored 21. But the hit of the party was a string of three-straight three-pointers by the Vikings Tristan Sorensen. He came off the bench and vaulted the Vikings from a 19-16 lead to a 27-22 advantage they never lost.
"That was a nice stretch by Sorensen," said Coach Busselman. By the time the dust settled on the first half, the Vikings had a comfortable, 51-32 lead.
"At halftime our guys were excited about scoring 32 points — but I told them, what about your defense. The other team had 51," related Coach Suter.
That brought some semblance of order to the situation.
One aspect of this game not to be overlooked was the fact Minneota hit nine of 11 free throws. And, they were able to scoot the ball into post Logan Sussner quite often. Meanwhile, Nolan Boerboom took over the out-siode shooting, sank three of them and Minneota fast-moving running time clock gave the Vikings a 14-1 record.
"It was a good game. We did some nice things — but we gave them way to many looks (at the basket), said Coach Busselman.
Well, may too many to Knapper, the son of Sting Athletic Director Tim Knapper.
Oh well! The team had been off for a week — and they were able to shake a little of the rust off their bones.
Minneota plays Monday at Ortonville (6 p.m., doubleheader with girls), and Tuesday at Tracy.
Minneota 83, Yellow Medicine East 52
MINNEOTA (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Nolan Boerboom 2 3 0-0 1 13; Isaac Hennen 5 0 4-5 0 14; Jacob Hennen 3 0 1-2 2 7; Thomas Hennen 5 3 2-2 1 21; Jared Josephson 0 3 0-0 3 9; Mitchell Rost 0 0 0-0 0 0; Tristan Sorensen 0 3 0-0 2 9; Logan Sussner 4 0 2-2 2 10; Alex Saltzer 0 0 0-0 0 0; Grady Moorse 0 0 0-0 0 0. Totals 19 12 9-11 12 83.
YELLOW MEDICINE EAST (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Dalton Anderson 2 0 2-4 2 6; Jahrell Ishmon 2 1 0-0 2 7; Bennett Knapper 3 6 0-0 0 24; Nicky Lindstrom 1 0 1-1 2 3; Ethan Peterson 2 0 0-0 5 4; Trent Skjefte 3 0 0-0 4 6; Carter Sneller 0 0 0-0 0 0. Totals 14 7 3-6 15 52.
Score by Halves
YME 32 20 — 52
Minneota 51 32 — 83
Statistics:
SHOOTING: Minneota (2’s 19 of 35 for 54 percent; 3’s 12 of 24 for 50 percent; overall 31 of 59 for 54 percent); YME (2’s 14 of 33 for 42 percent; 3’s 7 of 16 for 44 percent; overall 21 of 49 for 42 percent).
FREE THROWS: Minneota 9 of 11 for 82 percent; YME 3 of 5 for 60 percent.
REBOUNDS: Minneota 32 (I. Hennen 9, Sussner 6, T. Hennen 5, Sorenson 4, J. Hennen 3, Boerboom, Josephson 2 each, Rost 1); YME 16 (Ishmon 4; Lindstrom, Knapper, Sneller, Skjefte 2 each, Pterson 3, Andrson 1).
TURNOVERS: Minneota 7; YME 13.
STEALS: Minneota 7, isaac Hennen 4, T. Hennen, J. Hennen, Sussner 1 each); YME 4 (Skjefte, Anderson, Sneller, Lindstrom 1 each).
ASSISTS: Minneota 18 (J. Hennen 9; T. Hennen, Josephson, 4 each; I. Hennen 1). YME 18.
BLOCKS: Minneota 7 (T. Henne 5, J. Hennen, Sussner 1 each); YME 1 .
B SQUAD: Minneota 54, YME 36.