You've probably heard the old saying, "it's hard to beat a team three times in a season." I don't agree with that saying, but I will say it's hard to beat a GOOD team three times in a season.

Without a doubt, the Maple River Eagles are a good team. Coming into Friday night's Section 2 AA South Subsection semifinal, they had just three losses all year and two of them were to the Bucs of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown. Maple River totally dominated in a 60-51 win at Mankato East High School. The Eagles got layup after layup from senior Grant Sonnek and led 26-14 at the half.

At the start of the second half, WEM senior Cole Pope hammered home a three to make it a nine-point game, but a few minutes later Maple River was up by 18 points and in control. With about eight minutes to go, the Eagles spread the floor and it almost backfired. The Bucs forced a couple turnovers but couldn't convert them into points.

For Maple River, Sonnek finished the night with 25 points, sophomore Jeff Lewis came off the bench to pour in 14 and senior Jonah Breiter tallied 12. The Bucs were led by junior Kallen Dorenkemper's 14 points and Pope finished with 12. WEM's leading scorer, Zac Olson, was held to nine points on just two field goals and fouled out with 8:32 to go in the game. Olson came into the game averaging 19.2 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown finished their season with a 19-9 record and the Maple River Eagles, now 25-3, will play New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva for the South Subsection championship Tuesday evening in the Taylor Center on the Minnesota State University Mankato campus.

The Panthers trailed nearly the entire game, but rode a 19-3 run down the stretch to beat Waseca 59-50 in the other semifinal at Mankato East. Maple River swept NRHEG during the Gopher Conference season, but remember "it's hard to be a GOOD team three times." Head coach Jeff Wagner told KDHL after the game he was proud of his kids' never-say-die attitude and added the team will miss seniors Pope, Patrick Ely, Mac Lemcke and Nick Stiernagle.

                                              Mankato East Gym
                                              Mankato East Gym
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