“I give them all the credit,” said NRHEG coach Pat Churchill. “They came out and played extremely well in the first half and had all the energy and momentum. “We didn't have an answer tonight for Jonah Breiter. He played a great game.”
Breiter led all scorers netting 30 points for the Eagles.
Down 17, the Panthers didn’t quit and began chipping away at the lead, eventually pulling to within two points at 76-74 with just under two-minutes left in the game.
From there, the Eagles pulled away at the free-throw line, finishing the game on a 9-0 run from the stripe. For the night, Maple River converted on 31-of-45 attempts from the line to help secure the win and jump over NRHEG atop the Gopher Conference standings.
“I thought we had a lot of guts to come back, but we just couldn't get all the way back.” said Churchill. “They are a well-coached team that is playing extremely well.”
Trevor Tracy led the Panthers with 19 points while Oakley Baker followed with 18 points. Spencer Tollefson added 13.
The loss moved the Panthers to 8-2 in the Gopher Conference while Maple River improved to 7-1. Both of the Panthers’ conference losses have come against Maple River, which entered the week ranked No. 9 in the state. The Panthers, who entered the week ranked No. 10, also lost to the Eagles 70-66 on Dec. 12 in New RIchland.
NRHEG 74, Medford 53
It took the Panthers most of the first half to battle out a narrow lead against a depleted Medford team on Friday, Jan. 30. The Tigers were without three players, including leading scorer Luke Peterson.
But after grinding out the first 14 minutes, NRHEG jumped to a 38-21 halftime lead thanks to a 14-5 spurt in the final four minutes punctuated by Oakley Baker’s three-point exclamation as the clock wound down.
The Panthers would push the lead to 20 points early in the second-half and maintain that margin the rest of the night to earn their 16th win of the season.
“I thought Medford played extremely hard tonight,” said Churchill. “They were missing three players, including Luke Peterson who is scoring a lot of points for them this year. It took us a while to get the lead.”
Spencer Tollefson led NRHEG with 25 points. Oakley Baker (11), Kevin Kalis (10) and Macoy Schwierjohan (10) all scored in double-digits. Tyler Raimann recorded 3 blocks and 7 rebounds to go with 2 points for the Panthers. Richie Powers paced the Tigers with 25 points.
Individual Stats:
NRHEG
Spencer Tollefson 13 points, Trevor Tracy 19 points, Macoy Schwierjohan 8 points, Kevin Kalis 9 points, Oakley Baker 18 points, John Cole 5 points, Chad Agrimson 2 points.
Maple River
Jonah Breiter 30 points, Grant Sonnek 15 points, Jay Sohre 4 points, Andrew Albrecht 5 points, Jeff Lewis 12 points, Ethan Sindelir 4 points, Cole Sohre 6 points, Brandon Sohre 9 points.
NRHEG
Spencer Tollefson 25 points, Trevor Tracy 6 points, Macoy Schwierjohan 10 points, Kevin Kalis 10points , Oakley Baker 11 points, Chad Agrimson 5 points, Brady Beenken 5 points, Tyler Raimann 2 points.
Medford
Lucas Cronin 4 points, Richie Powers 25 points, Alex Goetze 2 points, Wyatt Volkmann 10 points, Nate Carty 7 points, Cody Rehman 1 point, Bryce McCarty 4 points.
