By JIM LUTGENS
Sports Editor
It wasn't a victory.
But it was definite improvement for the NRHEG High School boys' basketball team.
The Panthers, who dropped a lopsided decision in their season opener at Blue Earth Area, gave visiting Triton a tussle before falling 78-68 in New Richland Friday, Dec. 8.
"We had much better effort tonight on both ends of the floor, from start to finish," said NRHEG coach Dan Schmidt. "Our communication was better on defense, as well as offensively. We moved the ball much better this evening, as well. There were a lot of great things to see in a battle with a team that could win the Gopher Conference East."
The Panthers trailed by 10 at half-time and by as many as 14 in the second half.
"But we never quit," said Schmidt. "We'd go on a little run to cut it to 5-6 points, and couldn't quite get over the hump. We feel like we had a little breakthrough as a team tonight, and I hope the players can see it."
Senior Daxter Lee led NRHEG in scoring with 26 points, adding 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Sam Olson chipped in 13 points, with three 3-pointers. Will Tuttle played a strong game, getting a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Stepping in and playing some crucial minutes down the stretch, Hudson Chrz kicked in 10 points with a couple threes, Greyson Schaefer scored 5 points and grabbed 5 rebounds, and Jared Lee stepped in and played solid defense and ran the point down the stretch, while hitting a 3- pointer of his own. Jackson Chrz chipped in 1 point, but secured 6 rebounds on the night.
Pierce Petersohn of Triton led all scorers with 33 points, including 17- for-27 from the free-throw line. Kayden Ellingson hit six 3-pointers on his way to 21 points.
The Panthers fell 71-43 at Blue Earth Dec. 5 despite being shorthanded and trailing by only three points at the intermission.
"We played hard despite being undermanned, with two out due to illness, one due to injury, and another played fighting illness," said Schmidt. "It was a back-and-forth battle the whole first half. A timeout with 10 minutes to go in the game saw us down by seven points, and we just ran out of gas after that, with such a limited bench."
Individually: Jackson Chrz 8 points, 5 rebounds; Tuttle 13 points, 5 rebounds; Daxter Lee 1 point, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals; Olson 6 points, 3 rebounds; Jordan Brouwers 2 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals; Hudson Chrz 6 points; Jared Lee 5 points; Ricky Zapata 2 points.
NRHEG will look to rebound Thursday, Dec. 14 in a non-conference matchup at Kenyon-Wanamingo. They play at Randolph Friday and at STEM Academy Monday.