Vikings beat Chargers at Candy Cane Tourney

Minneota took a two-point advantage at halftime —came out in the second half and scored 47 points and put their fifth win in the books, 76-62 over Westbrook-Walnut Grove in the Candy Cane Tournament in Westbrook on Saturday.
It gave them a 2-0 tournament record, along with Lakeview, which beat Heron Lake-Okabena-Fulda, 62-48.
After the game the All-Tournament team was named and Minneota landed three players on the team: Logan Sussner, Nolan Boerboom and Alex Saltzer.
Others were Eli Fest of Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda; Billy Errington, Parker Hoffman and Colby Marczak of Lakeview and Ethan Mischke of Westbrook-WG.
“We just have to keep working. We’re getting there,” said Minneota Coach Dave Busselman at the end of the Tournament.
“I think we made some adjustments and did a decent job of defending,” he said.
It was close the entire first half, but a three-pointer by Nolan Boerboom put the Vikings in front and they went into halftime up, 29-27.
Westbrook-Walnut Grove held Logan Sussner to just five points in the first half. But, Boerboom and Saltzer broke out in the second half and quickly forged a 45-33 lead. When Saltzer hit a bucket with 10:10 left in the second half, Minneota was up, 53-36. The Chargers had one final run at the Vikings, getting within 58-50 — but Sussner took over in the middle, forced the Chargers 6-6 center Coltin Pilaczysnki to the bench with five fouls and put the game in the win column for the Vikings.
The fact the Vikings began to find Sussner under the basket in the second half was a big factor in the win. “We were getting some open shots because they were doubling down on our big guy (Sussner),” said Coach Busselman.
“We took quality shots,” the coach said.
He also liked the way Boerboom picked up his game and scored 19 points. Sussner got 23 with 11 rebounds and Saltzer scored 12 with a pair of steals.
“We moved Sussner around the floor to give them (the Chargers) some different looks and it worked out,” he said.
Sussner got a chance to shoot from the outside and scored a three-pointer along with his eight buckets under the basket.
“We like to move the kids around,” said the coach. It makes it tougher for defenses to know what’s happening.
Westbrook-Walnut Grove was no pushover. Both Mischke and Nathan Kuehl scored 18 points and the Chargers had six three-pointers.
But the difference for Minneota was hitting 11 of 18 free throws to just four of seven by the Chargers. Westbook-Walnut Grove had 19 fouls that helped the Vikings increase the margin late in the second half.
The Vikings also had seven three-pointers, which is more than in any other game this year.
“We still have a lot of things to fix. I have a board at home that is full of things to fix, but there will be room for more,” chuckled Coach Busselman.
“But then,this is the time of year you want things to fix,” he added.

MINNEOTA (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Alex Saltzer 2 1 5-8 3 12; Joseph Rybinski 2 1 1-2 2 8; Logan Sussner 9 1 2-2 3 23; Riley Buysse 1 1 1-2 3 6; Nolan Boerboom 4 3 2-3 3 19; Jacob Citterman 2 0 0-0 0 4; Braeden Panka 2 0 0-1 0 4; Grady Moorse 0 0 0-0 0 0. Totals 22 7 11-18 14 76.
WESTBROOK-WG (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Ethan Mischke 4 3 1-2 3 18; Nathan Kuehl 5 2 2-3 4 18; Hunter Lien 6 0 0-0 4 12; Austin Parker 2 0 0-0 2 4; Cole VanDeWiele 1 1 0-0 0 5; Coltin Pilaczysnki 2 0 1-2 5 5; Sam Kleven 0 0 0-0 1 0. Totals 20 6 4-7 19 62.
Score by Halves:
Minneota              29    47  —  76
Westbrook-WG    27    35  —  62
Stats:
SHOOTING: Minneota 29 of 64 for 45 percent; W-WG 26 of 53 for 49 percent.
FREE THROWS: Minneota 11 of 18 for 61 percent; WWG 4 of 7 for 57 percent.
REBOUNDING: Minneota 30 (Sussner 11; Citterman 7; Boerboom 4; Buysse 3; Saltzer, Rybinski and Panka 2 each); WWG 26 (Kuel 9, Mischke and Parker 5 each, Lien 4, Pilaczysnki 3).
TURNOVERS: Minneota 9; WWG 16.
STEALS: Minneota 8 (Sussner 3, Saltzer and Boerboom 2 each, Panka 1); WWG 2 (Lien, Parker).
BLOCKS: Minneota  1 (Sussner); WWG 3 (Mischke 2, Pilaczynski 1).
B SQUAD: Minneota 46, Westbrook-WG 40 (ot) (Minneota now 8-0.