PREP BOYS' BASKETBALL: ML/B-O knocks off SSC in sub-section championship

ST. PETER — The Mountain Lake-Butterfield Odin boys’ basketball team won the Section 2A South championship Monday with a 49-40 victory over Southwest Star Concept at Gustavus Adolphus.

The Wolverines (23-5) were led by Carter Kirk’s 13 points and nine rebounds, Andrew Hempeck’s nine points, Beau Herrig’s eight points and nine rebounds and Kyle Thiessen’s eight points.

The Quasars (16-10) were led by Andrew Kramer’s 17 points — 15 coming in the first half alone. Jameson Collin added eight rebounds, while Austin Liepold had five rebounds and Luke Henkels had four assists.

ML/B-O was down at halftime 23-17 after struggling offensively in the first halft.

“I think we were just nervous,” head coach Shawn Naas said. “Beau Herrig missed a bunch of shots and the whole team tends to go as he goes. Once he settled down, we all seemed to settle down. That’s how it has been going all year.”

The Wolverines went back and forth with their opponents in the second half. Anytime ML/B-O would pull away, SSC would come right back, and vice versa.

But with five minutes left to play, Hempeck hit a banker from about 10 feet away to put the Wolverines ahead. And from that point on, ML/B-O never lost its lead.

“I think it was that one basket,” SSC head coach Tim Owen said. “That basket they shot at in the first half and we shot at in the second half. Both teams only got 17 points off of that one basket. It must’ve been cursed or something.

“No, but they just made some defensive adjustments at the half and were able to get some big baskets and rebounds in the second half to turn the game around. They did what they had to do.”

SSC ended its season with the loss, but ML/B-O advances to the Section 2A championship in Mankato Friday.

The Wolverines will take on Sleepy Eye Saint Mary’s, a team they beat 64-61 during the regular season.

“SSC was able to slow us down today. They’ve played us before, so they knew to do that,” Naas said. “We were lucky that we were able to keep things under control and get the job done. Now we’re just one game away from going to state and we’re excited about that.”

SSC 23 17 — 40

ML/B-O 17 32 — 49

Tags: mountain lake butterfield odin, sports, prep, basketball