Conference wins secure tie for crown for NRHEG boys
The NRHEG boys’ basketball team has had games this season when it has struggled to score, especially in the first half.
Friday night wasn’t one of them.
The Panthers were poised for Gopher Conference showdown with Blooming Prairie and were firing on all cylinders while cruising to a 77-55 triumph at New Richland.
“We had an offensive explosion,” said coach Pat Churchill, whose team improved to 18-1 overall and 9-0 in the conference.
The Panthers, who have clinched at least a tie for the conference title, came out aggressive on offense.
“We ran the floor extremely well and had a lot of easy looks because of our transition,” said Churchill.
Still, the game was close for most of the first half. In fact Blooming Prairie took an early 6-point lead, but NRHEG battled back and pushed the lead out to 7 with 6 minutes to go in the half. It was 39-28 at the intermission.
NRHEG shot 13-for-21 in the paint in the first half.
“If we are disciplined and aggressive enough to get the ball there, we can make shots, and we did tonight,” said Churchill.
NRHEG extended the lead to 20 early in the second half and played with that margin the rest of the game.
Brady Agrimson scored 19 and Benji Lundberg netted 15 for the Panthers. Jacob Schuller scored 14, Jerret Utpadel 8, Ryan Hannegrefs 7, Nathaniel Techau 6, Lonnie Wilson 4, Devin Buendorf 2 and Blake Ihrke 2.
“We played really good defensively,” said Churchill. “I thought we made things tough for them most of the night. We shared the ball as well as I've seen us share the ball all season. When we are seeing each other well and distributing the ball like that, we are a pretty good team.”
Karson Vigeland led Blooming Prairie with 9 points.
The NRHEG junior varsity won in double-overtime 60-57.
The Panthers hosted WEM Monday, Feb. 5 and won 49-43. It was 16-14 WEM at halftime.
The first half was a defensive battle.
“I didn't think we moved the ball well offensively,” said Churchill. “We were not crisp running off screens; we were holding the ball too much instead of reversing the ball, and we struggled to get good shots.”
Fortunately, the Panthers played pretty good defense to keep them in the game. WEM did not make a 2-point field goal in the first half. They had 3 three-pointers and hit 7 of 8 free throws.
The second half was tight until about the 7-minute mark when NRHEG moved out to an 8-point lead. WEM kept battling, but NRHEG made just enough free throws to stay in front.
“This was a nice win for us because our leading scoring and leader Benji Lundberg went home sick with the flu and other kids stepped up and carried the load a little more,” said Churchill.
Peyton Castle had 10 big points off the bench and Utpadel hit some big shots in the second half and led the Panthers with 14. Agrimson chipped in 10.
Bladyn Bartlet scored 17 for the Bucs.
WEM won the JV game 67-58.