Sports from the week of January 3, 2007

Varsity rebounds in third-place game

Rally falls short against Knights

The Panther boys split two games in the Holiday Hoops Tournament in Lamberton to claim third place.

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton edged Tracy/Milroy/Balaton 48-46 in the opener. The Panthers came back to beat Wabasso 58-43 in the third-place game.

Coach Nat Boyer cited poor shooting an ununproductive night at the free-throw line for the team’s loss to RTR.

“Not many teams are going to have successful nights shooting only five free throws,” said Boyer. “We allowed RTR to get the momentum right away, and then almost took the game, but we just couldn’t finish up.”

The Knights served notice early that they wanted to avenge their December 11 loss to the Panthers. RTR hustled and hit the boards hard to build a 26-9 lead. The Panthers started to whittle away at the lead, but still trailed 30-21 at intermission. The Panthers tied the score 40-40 midway in the second and took a 43-40 lead. But the Knights stopped the Panthers on eleven of their next 12 possessions to hold on for the win.

“Our inability to take the ball to the basket and hold the lead in our last 12 possessions really told the tale of the game,” commented Boyer.

Isaac Dolan led the Panther scoring with 11 points and Anthony Dolan followed with 10. The Panthers had 26 rebounds to 20, 6 assists to 7, 12 steals to 3 and committed 14 turnovers to only 12 for RTR.

TMB shot only 25% against RTR.

“We had the shots, they just weren’t the best shots and they didn’t drop,” Boyer said.

Steven Paradis led the with 17 points in the victory over Wabasso.

T/M/B 21-25:46

R-T-R 30-18:48

T/M/B-Schmidt, 2,0/0,5; A.Dolan, 4,0/0,10; Paradis, 3,0/0,6; Prairie, 2,0/0,6; I. Dolan, 4,1/3,11; Kaup, 2,2/2,6; Nelson,1,0/0,2. Totals 18,3/5,46.

T/M/B 34-24:58

Wabasso 18-25:43

T/M/B-Schmidt, 2,2/2,6; A.Dolan, 2,0/0,4; Paradis, 8,1/3,17; Rignell, 2,0/0,4; I.Dolan, 4,2/2,11;Kaup, 2,0/0,4;Nelson, 5,0/0,12. Totals,25,5/7,58.

Wrestlers are near top of heap at Monte

The Panther wrestlers were second in a nine-team tournament at Montevideo Friday. The Panthers were 69 points behind first-place Canby.

Zach Campbell and Luke Prairie won individual titles for Tracy/Milroy/Balaton, with Erik Cooreman, Chad Cooreman and Nathan Jacob finishing as runners-up. James Prairie and Tyler Bauer were third in their classes, Derek Evans fourth and Dan Dieter and Colton Evans fifth.

The team scores were: 1) Canby, 246; 2) T/M/B, 177; 3) Wheaton-Herman-Norcross, 154; 4) Chaska, 131.5; 5) Pine Island, 121; 6) Fulda/MCC, 115; 7) MACCRAY, 102; 8) New Prague, 86.5; 9) Montevideo, 70.5; Mpls North, 19.

Individual results for the Panthers were:

103- Campbell, bye; won, M.dec., 16-6, McCarthy (Wea); won, fall, Long (Can);

119-Cooreman, won, fall, Wilson (Wea); lost dec., Reinsma (F/MCC);

125-Roger Moua, lost, T.fall, Miller (Cha);

135- Luke Prairie, won, fall,3:39, Schmitz (NP);won, fall, 2:57, Hervey (PI); won, dec., Giese (F/MCC);

140- Derek Evans, lost, dec., 13-7, Alfs (Mon);lost, dec., Alfs (Mon);

145- Chad Cooreman, won, M.dec., 14-6, Becker (NP); won, dec., default, Maley (PI); lost, dec., Verheist (Can);

152- VanNevel, lost, fall, 1:43, Steen (Mac);

160-Dan Dieter, lost, fall, Rosendahl (Mac); won, M.dec., Reinke (NP);

171- James Prairie, won, fall, :35, Larson (Cha);lost, dec., 12-10, Kramer(F/MCC); won, fall Pike (PI);

189- Colton Evans, lost, fall, 2:44, Grussing (Mac); won, T.fall, Hanson (Wea);

215- Tyler Bauer, bye; lost, dec., 5-1, Hansen (Can); won, dec., Wandersee(Mac);

285-Nathan Jacob, bye; won, fall, 4:55, Roeschlien (Wea); lost, fall, Pyne (Cha).

Cards escape with double overtime win

The Panther boys’ basketball team lost a close game to Luverne Tuesday night at Tracy 62-58 in two overtimes. The Cardinals, ranked fourth in the state in class AA, improved to 8-0 while the Panthers fell to 4-4 for the season.

“As a coaching staff we felt good going into the halftime with a one point game,” said Panther Coach Nat Boyer. “We had confidence in our team that we could stick with them and make it a game and that is what the boys did. In the end Luverne just capitalized on some situations and we didn’t. We had some opportunities in the end, both of which were well contested, but they just didn’t fall for us. The boys have no reason to hang their heads tonight. We are very proud of the entire team, the boys came together tonight and that is what we keep striving towards. Our boys played well and this kind of game will make us tougher in the future.”

Luverne got off to a good start in the game by out-scoring Tracy/Milroy/Balaton 15-10 in the early going. However the Panthers then answered by putting up 13 unanswered points to take a 23-15 lead. The Cardinals then responded with a spurt of their own to take a 28-27 lead into the intermission.

The Panthers had 35 rebounds to 37 for the Cardinals, had 16 assists to 11, 5 blocks to 1, 9 steals to 6 and turned the ball over 19 times to 16 for Luverne.

Isaac Dolan had the hot hand for T/M/B as he led the offense with 25 points. The Panthers hit 24 field goals to only 20 for the visitors but Luverne made 17 free throws to only 1 for the Panthers. The Panthers were called for 24 fouls while Luverne had only 7. The game was tied at 47-47 at the end of regulation and 52-52 at the end of the first overtime.

Luverne 28 19 5 10 62

T/M/B 27 20 5 6 58

T/M/B-I.Dolan, 11,0/0,25; Kaup, 4,0/0,10; Paradis, 4,0/2,8; Zwaschka, 2,0/0,4; Rignell, 2,0/0,4; Nelson, 2,0/0,4; A.Dolan, 1,1/2,3. Totals 24,1/4,58.

B-squad wins

The Panther B squad won over Luverne 44-31.

Bo Kirsh led the young Panthers in scoring with 11 points. He was followed by Walker Schaar with 10, Brandon Kirk with 8, Josh Hook and Chris Hansen added 4 each, John Swenhaugen 3 and Kane Zwaschka and Aaron Frisvold scored 2 points each.

“We got an early lead, lost it, and came back strong,” said Panther Coach Bob Ladehoff. “Our rebounding was much better tonight. It was a good team effort.”

Donkey basketball set in Milroy next week

Dairyland Donkey Basketball is coming to the Milroy School on Friday, Jan. 12.

The evening begins with a potato supper sponsored by the Milroy Parent-Teacher Organization from 5-7 p.m. There is no charge for the meal, but donations will be accepted for the dinner.

The donkey basketball begins at 7 p.m. with four teams participating. Tracy teachers will face off against the Milroy teachers and firemen will compete against local farmers.

Representing the Tracy teachers will be Sheryl Woelber, Eric Trygstad, Kelly McConnell, Nicole Hedrick, and John Lanoue. The Milroy teachers will be represented by Ben Schamber, Jennifer Mahan-Deitte, Jodi Illg, Jennifer Chepa, and Kristy Moore. Playing for the Milroy Farmer’s Co-Op Association will be Josh Hunt, Bob Filzen, Ben Lightfoot, Shawn Beebout, and Rick Anderson. Representing the fire department will be Jessie Bry, Tom Wurscher, Jamie Labat, Jamie Jenniges, Tim Zwach, Dusty Stolp, Justin Duchsyer, Russ Couwels, and Greg Debbaut.

During intermission, free donkey rides will be offered to the first 125 children in line. Wabasso Area Just for Kicks will also be performing. Concessions will be available.

Donkey basketball tickets are available at Marshall HyVee, Papa John’s (Marshall), Farmer’s Co-op Association of Milroy, State Bank of Lucan, Vesta Café, Milroy School, and Tracy Food Pride. Pre-school children get in for free.

The Milroy PTO has helped to fund various events, including lyceums, Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre, and American Education Week. They have also donated funds toward playground equipment, teacher requests, and computer technology.