By JIM LUTGENS
Sports Editor
They're getting closer.
But the first win of the season remains just out of reach for the NRHEG basketball boys.
The Panthers remained winless on the season the first for head coach Dan Schmidt as they fell to Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton and dropped three games in the Bethany Holiday Tournament in Mankato.
The closest the Panthers came to tasting victory was in the seventh-place tournament game, where they were edged 56-54 by Fairmont. NRHEG kept it close despite giving up a good size advantage.
"I couldn't be more proud of how the boys played," said Schmidt, whose team trailed 27-21 at halftime.
"Coming out of the half, we once again took a shot to the chin, with Fairmont building the lead to 13," said Schmidt.
But the Panthers never quit. They clawed back to tie it 54 late in the game. A couple Fairmont free throws made it 56-54, and a quick time out after the last one gave NRHEG an opportunity at a game-tying shot at the buzzer. The Panthers got a great look at the basket on the game's final play, but the shot just rimmed out.
"If you were in the stands, the atmosphere was really great for a consolation game," said Schmidt. "The boys did a great job digging in and battling back. I'll never question the heart in this group, and I couldn't ask for a better group to start my career. The want is there. We just have to clean up some of the mental mistakes, and things could change quickly after that."
The Panthers were led by Will Tuttle with 21 points and 5 rebounds. He was followed by Daxter Lee with 9 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds. Jackson Chrz kicked in 6 points and 8 boards .Sam Olson had 6 points. Sawyer Prigge chipped in 6 points, 3 assists, and 4 steals.
"Jase Knudson, while only registering 1 rebound, played a tough six minutes for us, matched up against Fairmont's center, while giving up 4-5", and Jase never backed down from him, while holding him scoreless during that stretch," said Schmidt. "It was great to see Will have a great finish to the tournament, and kind of come in to his own. Sawyer has been such a good addition to the team, after coming out late. He gives us a look outside the arc, as well as some steady senior play. Jackson had a good first game of the tournament, and battled well on the glass all week. Daxter led us in scoring for the week, and was also named to his first Kwik Trip Holiday All-Tournament team, which was chosen by the coaches and the tournament directors.
The Panthers wound up in the seventh-place game with a 65-54 loss to LCWM.
According to Schmidt, the score wasn't indicative of the actual game.
"We came out tough to start things off," he said. "Prigge hit a big 4-point play on a three and a foul to put
us up 14-10. We hung right in there the whole first half." The )Panthers trailed 28-25 at the intermission. "We took our typical punch in the mouth early in the
second half, but we never wavered, and stuck right with them the rest of the game," said Schmidt. " Any time LCWM would make a little run, we'd get right back in it. They went up by about 7 or so early on, and we got it back to two, but couldn't quite get over that hurdle. But, we saw a lot of really good things out of the boys in this game."
Lee led NRHEG with 14 points and 4 rebounds. Others: Chrz 13 point, 9 rebounds; Prigge 9 points; Alden Dobberstein 7 points, 2 steals; Olson 6 points; Tuttle 3 points; Jaylin Raab 2 points.
"Chrz come off the bench tonight, and he really sparked us with 13 points and 9 rebounds," said Schmidt. "And, he got the crowd fired up by throwing down a nice dunk with a man coming up behind him. He and Dobberstein did such a great job off the bench tonight."
LCWM's Jamis Ulman led all scorers with 19 points, followed by Zack Wells with 14.
In the opening round at Mankato, the Panthers were upended 71-57 by St. Clair after leading 33-27 at halftime.
"We moved the ball well, and were led by Daxter Lee with 18 points and Will Tuttle with 10 points at the break," said Schmidt.
The Cyclones started the second half out in a 1-2-2 press, and NRHEG made a handful of passes that resulted in layups that turned the tide very quickly.
"It's a press that we can usually beat, but just got plagued by bad passes," said Schmidt. "We did play a much cleaner game in terms of fouls. Every game we see improvement in certain areas. Now we just need to put it all together."
Lee led NRHEG with 26 points and 5 rebounds. Tuttle chimed in with 14 points and 12 rebounds, for his first double-double of the season. Prigge chipped in 9 points on 3 3-pointers. Finishing off the scoring for NRHEG were Dobberstein with 4 points, Jackson Chrz with 2, and Sam Olson with 2. St Clair was led by Brandon Meng with 20 points, and Connor Whittlet with 18.
The Panthers were defeated 70-50 at JWP back on Dec. 20.
For NRHEG: Lee 23 points, 7 rebounds; Olson: 6 points Chrz 5 points; Prigge 5 points, 2 steals; Dobberstein 3 points; Tuttle 2 points, 8 rebounds; Raab: 2 points; Lukas Loverink: 2 points;Knudson: 2 points. Memphis James from JWP led all scorers with 27, followed by Daulton Bauer with 16 and Ryan Kronbach with 15.
The Panthers play next in a boy/girl doubleheader at Maple River on Friday.