Kenyon-Wanamingo Boys Basketball Ends Season with Great Effort

The Section 2AA South Sub-Section #7 seed Kenyon-Wanamingo Knights nearly pulled off a major upset Tuesday night at #2 seed Maple River.  The Knights lost 43-33 but Head Coach Ross Peterson had to be very proud of his team.

It had to be one of the best games of the season for Kenyon-Wanamingo.  The five seniors were named our Held Bus Service Knights of the game.  Jack Beulke, Keegan McCorkell, Kyle Knott, Chance Washburn and Sam Ringham.

Before the game Coach Peterson told KDHL the Milo Peterson Ford of Kenyon key to the game would be to patiently execute their offense, "whether that takes six passes or two."  The Knights were very patient and trailed 21-13 at the half.

The problem with being patient is you don't get as many shots at the basket which puts a premium on shooting a good percentage.

Kenyon-Wanamingo missed all four free throws they shot in the first half or they would have been behind by just four points at the intermission.

Maple River extended their defense in the second half in an attempt to speed up the game and it did work for a period of time.  The Eagles got the Knights to turn the ball over with some regularity and cashed in with layups and three point baskets.

Maple River was up by 15 points in the second half before Kenyon-Wanamngo whittled the lead down to six around the four minute mark but they just couldn't get any closer.

One of the differences in the game was clearly the free throw line where the Eagles were 8 of 11 and the Knights were 0 for 4.  Maple River was 6 of 9 in the second half and Kenyon-Wanamingo did not shoot a free throw in the second half.

The other difference was 19 Knight turnovers compared to 9 for the Eagles.

When you are limiting your opponents possessions you are obviously limiting your own also and that puts a premium on taking care of the basketball.

The Baker and Axelson CPA's of Wanamingo stats for the two teams showed Maple River had 15 baskets in the game and Kenyon-Wanamingo 14 baskets, both with five three point baskets so you see how big the 8-0 advantage at the free throw line was.

Sophomore Tate Erlandson led Kenyon-Wanamingo with 10 points, junior Colin Sviggum had 8 points in about a three minute stretch that made the game very interesting heading into crunch time.

Maple RIver was led by junior Mason Sorre with 16 points, four of them from the charity stripe.

The Knights finished the season with a 1-26 record and the Eagles are now 18-9 and play #3 seed St. Peter Thursday night 7:45 p.m. at Mankato East High School.

The 6:00 p.m. game will feature top seed New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva against #4 seed Blue Earth Area.  The Panthers had a bye and Blue Earth Area downed Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 72-50.

In the North Sub-Section Tuesday night everything went according to seed.  Top seed Jordan rolled over Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 74-41.  #4 seed Glencoe-Silver Lake beat Norwood-Young America Central 64-47.

#3 seed Belle Plaine bested LeSeuer-Henderson 60-42 and #2 seed Sibley East downed Tri-City United 57-33.

Thursday night in New Prague the early game features Jordan going up against Glencoe-Silver Lake.  Followed by Belle Plaine and Sibley East.