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PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Minneota, WWG close out Candy Cane Classic with pair of wins

Photo by Jake Przytarski Minneota’s Logan Sussner shoots a layup during their game against Lakeview on Saturday.

MINNEOTA - The Candy Cane Classic boys basketball tournament concluded on Saturday with the host team Minneota earning the tournament title with an 85-70 win over the Lakeview Lakers.

The team that the Vikings beat to make it to the championship, Westbrook-Walnut Grove, began the Saturday morning doubleheader with an 80-60 win over the Heron Lake-Okabena Wildcats to finish as the consolation champions.

The Chargers, who began the second half trailing the Wildcats 34-29, cleaned some things up at halftime that helped lead them to victory.

“I just thought there were some pretty basic basketball fundamental things that we didn’t do defensively,” said WWG coach Derrick Jenniges. “When we had a chance to visit about that at halftime I thought we did a much better job getting the basketball in a certain spot on the floor and finding some openings from there. I thought we really did that (well). I think we maybe scored seven or eight possessions in a row to start the second half.”

Opening up the second half with a quick pace, the Chargers took their first lead of the game thanks to an inside basket by Parker Freeburg that made it 37-36. With the momentum firmly in their favor, the Chargers continued to roll with a 13-6 run to push the lead to 50-42.

After trading baskets for a majority of the game, WWG began to separate from the Wildcats down the stretch by capitalizing on their offensive possessions, outscoring the Wildcats 17-8 and holding a 67-50 lead.

With the Wildcats unable to mount a comeback, the Chargers earned an 80-60 victory.

Sitting at 5-2 on the season, WWG will return to action on Dec. 27th when they take on the Wabasso Rabbits on the road at 5 p.m.

Minneota 85,

Lakeview 70

Following the consolation matchup, the tournament’s two remaining unbeaten teams met on the floor for a rematch of a Dec. 10 conference showdown that saw the Vikings rout the Lakers by 48 in an 88-40 win.

In a much closer contest this time around with the Lakers falling 85-70 on Saturday, Lakeview coach Jared Keaveny said it’s all about growth for his team and came away highly impressed by the effort put forth by the group against a top-notch opponent.

“It was about growth,”said Keaveny. “Two weeks ago, Minneota handled us pretty well. “We got beat by 48. (Saturday) we got down, but we didn’t roll over. We continued to play. We continued to work at it, got it down to 11 or 12 late and gave ourselves an opportunity to be at least be in the game. I think that was a big step for us.”

After a gauntlet of a game schedule this week with four games to play, Vikings coach Dave Busselman was happy with his team’s effort and liked the improvement in ball movement.

“I thought we played hard,” said Busselman. “We were tired, this is our fourth ballgame in a week and we were in some pretty competitive ballgames too so we were tired. I didn’t know what kind of energy we would have but they manufactured a little bit of energy and we did some nice things. We moved the ball a little bit better than we have.”

After beginning the game red-hot from the field to edge the Lakers 49-31 heading into the second half, Lakeview refused to back down in the face of the large deficit and responded with a tempo-setting three by Aaron Loe to kick things off and another by Parker Hoffman for a 6-0 run.

The veteran-laden Vikings continued to generate offense in response as Thomas Hennen knocked down consecutive threes moments later to push the lead to 44-25 early in the second half.

The Lakers stood tall offensively for the remainder of the game, going shot-for-shot with the top-ranked Vikings, but it was not enough to pick up the win as Minneota edged Lakeview 85-70.

The Vikings, who remain unbeaten in eight games to begin the season, will face what could be their toughest challenge thus far with a home matchup with Springfield on Friday. Meanwhile, the Lakeview Lakers will have an extended break before their next game on Jan. 4th at home against Kervkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg.

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