KRUSE & CO. RALLY FOR BIG WIN OVER MINNY
Freshman drills trio of late 3-pointers; Zick scores 26 in come-from-behind win over Vikings
By his own admission, TMB boys’ basketball coach Ryan Kruse compared his team’s play in the first half of Friday’s game against Minneota to what you would see from a bunch of gradeschoolers.
They sure grow up fast don’t they?
The Panthers played like men in the second half, and with a revitalized defense and clutch three-point shooting were able to rally from a 13-point halftime deficit to upend the Vikings 74-73 in a key Camden Conference South matchup.
“We came out energized, but started to slow down, lost energy,” said TMB’s Jackson Kruse, who erased a shaky individual first half with some late big-time heroics. “At halftime, we started to pick it back up and went from there.”
The first half was a mess for TMB, which not only struggled breaking Minneota’s press but was off its game from the field. The Panthers were just 1-for-10 from the field to open the game as the Vikings opened with a 14-2 advantage.
“We knew the press was coming, but the first two possessions were just terrible,” TMB coach Ryan Kruse said. “It looked like we were third-graders that had never practiced basketball before. And it just kind of snowballed.”
It wasn’t until more than 6 minutes into the game that things started to come together. Parker Kline got things going with a three, and swished another later in-between two threes from Griffin Zick and one from Emery Xiong.
Minneota was able to answer nearly all of TMB’s makes, however, to keep the Panthers at arms length. A late three by Jackson Kruse helped TMB keep the Vikings within reach, but Minneota still led 42-29 at the break.
“It was a bad combination of a lot of things,” Coach Kruse said. “I felt like it was good we were only down 13, because it felt like 30. But we were in it enough to come back.”
The early goings of the second half was a harbinger of things to come. TMB (4-2, 3-1) was hot from the start, canning three from deep to keep pace. Eventually, the Panther defense stepped things up and started making things more difficult for the Vikings on the offensive end.
A baseline jumper by Zick cut the Vikings’ lead to 53-47 with 9:47 to go, and it was a 53-49 game after two free throws by Connor Lanoue.
The Vikings were able to re-establish some control with a 6-2 run before four TMB free throws. TMB was able to knot things up at 63 on a corner three by Zick with 2:37 left.
“I think we were able to slow ourselves down a little bit,” Coach Kruse said. “We were just making better decisions in the second half, taking better threes; we got our confidence up, and it just kept going.”
An offensive foul — the fifth on Minneota’s 6-foot-5 center Kyson Arndt — put the ball back in the hands of the Panthers, and they made the Vikings pay. Kruse nailed a three from the top of the key to put TMB ahead for the first time at 66-63 with just over 2 minutes left.
But Kruse wasn’t done, not by a long shot. The freshman hit another from the wing 39 seconds later and delivered the knockout blow from the same spot with :46 left to put the large crowd into an even more frenzied state.
“We got the rebounds we needed; I got open, shot it … “ Jackson Kruse said. “I had to stay locked in. We know we were undersized, we know we’re always the underdogs against most of these teams. This proves that we can overcome adversity and not give up.”
Jackson’s coach, and father, was impressed by how the freshman didn’t let a poor first half keep him from making a difference.
“He really struggled until that last 6 minutes,” the coach said. “But he hit that first one, and the next possession he got another one. That third one was probably not a great shot because we were up, but I think he felt pretty good about it. Big time threes from him. Great job of staying in the game even though he wasn’t playing well. We all just kept playing until it kind of started going our way.”
Two free throws by Lanoue with :30 left were the final points for TMB, but they were important ones, as the Vikings didn’t go away. But even their late threes weren’t enough to overcome what was a three-possession deficit.
“It was huge to be able to make those plays against a good team and see that you’re able to come back,” Coach Kruse said. “Things can get better if you just keep playing hard.”
• The TMB B-squad fell 43-36. Carson Lanoue had nine points, five assists and five rebounds, and Braden Morgan scored seven points and had 11 rebounds.
Minneota 42 31 — 73 TMB 29 45 — 74 Minneota
Myhre 4-6 0-0 10, Sussner 3-10 2-2 8, Johnstron 5-12 2-2 14, Sorensen 4-8-6-7 16, Hennen 5-17 0-0 12, Stassen 4-8 0-0 9, Carstensen 1-1 0-0 2, Arndt 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 27-64 10-11 73. Three-pointers: 9-29. Assists: 14. Rebounds: 31. Blocks: 2. Steals: 18. Turnovers: 27.
TMB
Sanders 1-3 1-3 3, Zick 9-17 2-4 26, Connor Lanoue 3-11 4-5 11, Xiong 1-7 0-0 3, Kruse 5-11 0-2 14. Sanow 3-7 2-2 9, Kline 2-2 0-0 6, Lightfoot 1-2 0-1 2. Totals: 25-60 9-17 74. Three-pointers: 10-26 (Zick 6-11, Kruse 4-8, Kline 2-2, Sanow 1-3, Connor Lanoue 1-6, Xiong 1-4. Assists: 18 (Sanow 5, Sanders 3, Zick 3, Kruse, Connor Lanoue 2, Xiong, Lightfoot).
Rebounds: 36 (Lightfoot 10, Sanow 9, Kruse 6, Sanders 4, Connor Lanoue 3, Zick 2). Blocks: 4 (Connor Lanoue, Kruse, Kline, Lightfoot). Steals: 16 (Zick 5, Sanow 3, Sanders 2, Connor Lanoue 2, Xiong, Kruse, Kline, Lightfoot).
