Photo by Sam Thiel Minneota’s Cale Sorensen goes up for a block during their game against YME on Saturday. Minneota defeated YME 84-43.

GRANITE FALLS — The Minneota boys basketball team entered Saturday’s matchup against Yellow Medicine East looking to continue its recent strong play. Meanwhile, the Sting hoped to not only break the Vikings’ win streak, but also snap a lengthy streak of their own, as YME hasn’t recorded a victory yet this season (0-15).

But the Vikings had other ideas, however, as Minneota used a balanced effort on both sides of the floor to earn an 84-43 victory.

Minneota coach Dave Busselman said he felt they executed well as a group and rebounded and stayed active on the defensive end.

“We executed really well, especially to start with, we did some good things, defensively stayed active, rebounded well and moved the ball around,” Busselman said. “They hit some outside threes, so we had to adjust to that a little bit, but we played well and I’m happy with our performance.”

Minneota jumped out to an early lead, going up 5-0 before Jacob Hennen connected on a 3-pointer, but YME answered with a jumper from Isaac Jimenez to cut the deficit to five at 10-5 with 14:40 left in the first half. Minneota then got a 3-point play and later a layup from Bishop Drietz to take a double-digit advantage at 23-13 at the midway mark of the first half. The Vikings’ defensive play continued to stay aggressive, with several YME turnovers leading to transition opportunities for the Vikings. Hennen and Drietz got layups to go to make it 37-16 with three minutes to play, and after Nikson Knapper connected on a 3-pointer for the Sting to stop the run, Braeden Panka answered with a layup to help Minneota take a 46-21 lead at halftime.

In the second half, both teams traded points in the opening minutes, with Jimenez getting a layup for YME to make it 56-29 before AJ Myhre recorded a 3-point play on the ensuing possession for the Vikings. Minneota would continue to lead by at least 30 for the majority of the half, and led by as many as 46 at 82-36 with 3:20 left en route to the 84-43 final.

YME coach Jake Suter credited Minneota for challenging them right away, especially with their defensive pressure.

“They came out with some pretty good pressure out of their three-quarter court and half-court trap and even when they were in their 2-3 zone in the half-court, they put a lot of pressure on us and challenged a lot of our shots,” Suter said. “You have to give Minneota a lot of credit, they played really hard.”

Kyle Chase led YME with 12 points while Jimenez added eight and Knapper recorded six. Knapper led in rebounds with four while Jimenez and Knapper led in assists with four each. Stats for Minneota were not available at press time.

Busselman added their key on offense was their ability to attack the basket.

“I think we could go into the paint at will and I also thought we did a nice job of going towards the basket and we executed well,” Busselman said.

Saluting the seniors

Before the game, YME honored its six seniors. They are: Tony Berthelsen, Chase, Caleb Jans, Tyler Nordaune, Tyler Syring and Silas Whitebuffalo.

Up next

Minneota (10-5) will face TMB at home today at 7:15 p.m. Busselman said they need to continue to improve on some things on both ends of the floor and maintain the momentum they’ve gained.

“We wanted to work on some things such as our offense and then on defense with knowing where people are and talking a little more,” Busselman said. “We’re peaking at the right time, we just need to finish strong the next two games.”

YME (0-16) will face Lakeview on the road today at 7:15 p.m. As they go into their final few games of the regular season, Suter said they are hoping to put together more consistency as a group.

“We don’t have much time since we turn around and play in Cottonwood [today]. They’re a different style team, obviously, and won’t have quite the length that Minneota has but they play great pressure defense as well,” Suter said. “It’s going to come down to playing a little more consistently because at times we’ve shown some flash and that’s what we’re hoping to see going forward.”