The Free Press, Mankato, MN

St. Peter news

February 25, 2013

Maple River knocks off 2nd-straight ranked team

The Free Press

MAPLETON — Maple River withstood a furious second-half charge by Fairmont’s Mitch Pfingsten to earn an 83-72 nonconference boys basketball win at home. The game featured two Class AA powers as Fairmont is ranked third and Maple River is fifth.

Trailing by 15 points at intermission, Fairmont’s Pfingsten scored 26 second-half points but it wasn’t enough. He finished with a game-high 31 points. Teammate Josh Eversman scored 12.

The Eagles were led by Brian Doering’s 21 points. Jonah Breiter went 13 of 14 from the free-throw line to finish with 19 points.

Corey Schiefelbein led Maple River with 10 rebounds. He scored eight points.

Mapleton (22-4) opens the postseason Monday at home.

Cleveland 76, Nicollet 68: Cleveland secured a home victory in its regular-season finale on Monday as two high-scoring Valley Conference players went head-to-head.

Nicollet’s Matt Christenson recorded 27 points and 17 rebounds while Cleveland’s Tommy Kraft scored 30 points with 15 rebounds.

Jay Hendrycks added 20 points for the Raiders, but it wasn’t enough to topple the Clippers in a close game that featured several lead changes. Tyler Seitz and Bryce Skistad each had 12 points for Cleveland.

On Thursday, Nicollet (3-17, 3-10) hosts Madelia and Cleveland (10-14) hosts New Ulm Cathedral in the first round of the subsection playoffs.

St. Peter 72, Sib. East 54: The Saints opened up a 16-point lead at the half and cruised to the nonconference win over Sibley East at Arlington.

Peter Kruize did most of the damage for St. Peter, scoring 27 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Erik Lokensgard scored 11 points and Josh Peymann added 10.

Sibley East’s leading scorer was Tyler Bates with 21.

The Saints (22-3) host Fairmont Thursday.

SJA 67, GHEC 60: Zach Brandts scored 17 points, grabbed nine rebounds and committed five steals as St. James Area defeated visiting Granada-Huntley-East Chain in the nonconference regular season-ending game.

Ryan Menssen scored 15 points for the Saints and Walker Froehling had 12 points with seven rebounds.

Dylan Petrowiak led four players in double-figures GHEC with 16 points.

St. James (3-21) begins playoff action Saturday at Fairmont. GHEC (7-16) opens the postseason Monday at St. Clair.

WEM 58, Triton 29: Waterville-Elysian-Morristown jumped to a 40-16 halftime lead and then emptied the bench on the way to the nonconference win at home.

Nicholas Kaplan led the Bucs with 14 points and nine rebounds. Nolan Grose scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds. Tucker Kinniry had nine points with five assists.

Brad Myers led Triton with 13 points.

WEM (19-6, 12-2 in Gopher Conference) plays Thursday at Waseca.

Fulda 68, MLA 61: Mountain Lake Area suffered through a frigid shooting night on the way to the Red Rock Conference loss at home.

The Wolverines (20-5) were 0 for 13 from 3-point range while Fulda (9-17) sank nine long-range shots. Andy Oakland led the winners with 25 points.

Carter Kirk had a big night for Mountain Lake, scoring 32 points and 15 rebounds. Josiah Stoesz had 15 points and eight rebounds.

Mountain Lake Area begins the postseason on Monday against the winner of Madelia vs. Nicollet.

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