The Minnewaska Area boys basketball team dropped four games over the last two weeks, falling to Montevideo last Tuesday night (70-47) and Sauk Centre, Friday (74-55), while also losing to BOLD (79-63) and Litchfield (67-47) the previous week.

The Lakers fell to 1-18 overall and 0-10 in the conference and have just seven more regular-season games to turn things around before the start of the postseason. This week, Minnewaska was set to play at Benson, Tuesday (tomorrow) and at Morris Area-CA, Thursday.

BOLD 79, Minnewaska 63

The Lakers played a good game but still came out on the losing end of a 79-63 decision at home against BOLD, Thursday, Jan. 26.

Ten players hit the scoring column for the Lakers, who shot 40 percent from the field (26-for-65), including 9-of-27 from beyond the three-point arc.

Tenzin Dahl led the Lakers with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Marc Gruber added 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field, including four 3-pointers.

Minnewaska fell behind 42-29 by halftime before being outscored only 37-34 in the second half against a strong BOLD team.

PJ Johnson and Alex Panitzke chipped in with eight points each for the Lakers, with Panitzke also dishing out four assists and snaring a team-high eight boards, while Dylan Alexander had six points, seven assists and three rebounds and James Ward had five points.

Also scoring for Minnewaska, which scored 60 or more points for only the fifth time in 16 games, were Connor Frey and Noah Palmer with three points each, and Levi Johnson and Owen Meulebroeck with two points apiece.

BOLD had four players score in double figures.

Litchfield 67, Waska 47

Minnewaska Area dropped to 1-16 overall with a 67-47 loss at Litchfield, Saturday, Jan. 28.

The two teams combined for only 48 first-half points as Litchfield took a 29-19 halftime lead, and then scored 66 combined points in the second half with the Dragons outscoring the visitors 38-28.

Tenzin Dahl, back from an injury suffered a few games earlier, scored 11 points and added three assists and two steals to lead the Waska offense, while Dylan Alexander added nine points and three assists.

Minnewaska shot 38 percent from the field (19-for-49), but was just 7-of-23 from three-point range and went to the line only four times, making two.

PJ Johnson had a good all-around game with eight points, four assists, two rebounds and two steals, while Tenzin Dahl had six points and five boards, Alex Panitzke had five points, four assists and two steals, and Marc Gruber had five points and two rebounds.

Also scoring for Minnewaska Area, which totaled just 14 rebounds, was Ryland Martin with three points on one 3-pointer.

Jake McCann led the Dragons with 24 points, hitting six 3-pointers and scoring 15 second-half points.

Montevideo 70, Waska 47

The Lakers were held under 50 points for the ninth time in 18 games during a 70-47 loss at Montevideo last Tuesday night.  Mason Jerve had 29 points to lead Montevideo, scoring 14 in the first half and 15 more in the second.

The Lakers, who trailed 34-17 at halftime, shot 35 percent from the field (20-for-57), but only 6-of-28 from three-point range.

Hunter Kloos had 13 points and three rebounds to lead the Lakers, while Tenzin Dahl added 10 points and eight boards.

Ryland Martin chipped in with seven points and two rebounds for the Lakers, who were just 1-of-2 from the line, while Alex Panitzke had seven points, two assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Also scoring for the Lakers were PJ Johnson with three points and Levi Johnson and Zach Palmer with two points each, while Dylan Alexander had a team-high six assists along with seven rebounds.

Sauk Cen 74, Waska 55

The Lakers fell behind early 12-0, but kept things close through the rest of the first half before Sauk Centre went on to the 74-55 victory, Friday night at MAHS.

Minnewaska cut the early deficit to 26-18 with 2:07 left in the first half on a basket by Tenzin Dahl, but SC ended the first half with a 6-2 run and also outscored the Lakers 42-35 in the second half to win by 19.

Hunter Kloos had 13 points in the second half to lead the Lakers with 18 points, while PJ Johnson added 12 points, scoring 10 in the first half, along with three rebounds and two assists.

Dahl ended the game with nine points and three boards, while Alex Panitzke had six points, four rebounds and three assists, Luke Danielson had five points, Marc Gruber and Levi Johnson both had two points, and Dylan Alexander had one point, four rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Jay Neubert had 25 points to lead Sauk Centre, which is still in contention for the WCC title.

BOLD 79, at Waska 61

BOLD 42 37 — 79

Minnewaska (1-15) 29 34 — 63

WASKA stats: 26-65 FG (9-27 3pt); 2-5 FT; 14 assists; 29 rebounds; 5 steals; 7 fouls; 8 turnovers . . . Scoring:  Tenzin Dahl 14, Marc Gruber 12, PJ Johnson 8, Alex Panitzke 8, Dylan Alexander 6, James Ward 5, Noah Palmer 3, Connor Frey 3, Levi Johnson 2, Owen Meulebroeck 2 . . . Rebounding:  Panitzke 8, Dahl 7, Alexander 3, Frey 2, Meulebroeck 2, Palmer 2, PJ Johnson 2 . . . Assists:  Alexander 7, Panitzke 4, Ryland Martin 2 . . . Steals:  five with 1 each

BOLD stats:  Scoring:  Gross 17, King 16, Weber 14, Meyers 10, Penkert 10 . . . Other stats not available

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at Litchfield 67, Waska 47

Minnewaska (1-16) 19 28 — 47

Litchfield 29 38 — 67

WASKA stats:  19-49 FG (7-23 3pt); 2-4 FT; 16 assists; 14 rebounds; 6 steals; 16 fouls; 6 turnovers . . . Scoring:   Hunter Kloos 11, Dylan Alexander 9, PJ Johnson 8, Tenzin Dahl 6, Marc Gruber 5, Alex Panitzke 5, Ryland Martin 3 . . . Rebounding:  Dahl 5, Johnson 2, Panitzke 2, Gruber 2 . . Assists:  Johnson 4, Panitzke 4, Alexander 3, Kloos 3 . . . Steals: Kloos 2, Johnson 2

LITCH stats:   Scoring:   Jake McCann 24, Creighton Huhner 13, Blake Allen 12 . . . Other stats not available

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at Monte 70, Waska 47

Minnewaska (1-17) 17 30 — 47

Montevideo (8-8) 34 36 — 70

WASKA stats:  20-57 FG (6-28 3pt); 1-2 FT; 18 assists; 28 rebounds; 9 steals; 11 fouls; 17 turnovers . . . Scoring:   Hunter Kloos 13, Tenzin Dahl 10, Ryland Martin 7, Alex Panitzke 7, Connor Frey 3, PJ Johnson 3, Levi Johnson 2, Zach Palmer 2 . . . Rebounding:  Dahl 8, Dylan Alexander 7, Panitzke 4, Kloos 3, Martin 2, PJ Johnson 2 . . Assists:  Alexander 6, PJ Johnson 5, L. Johnson 2, Panitzke 2 . . . Steals: Panitzke 3, Luke Danielson 2

MONTE stats:   Scoring:   Mason Jerve 29, Carson Boike 15, Devin Ashling 11 . . . Other stats not available

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Sauk Cen 74, at Waska 55

Sauk Centre (12-4) 32 42 — 74

Minnewaska (1-18) 20 35 — 55

WASKA stats:  20-57 FG (8-26 3pt); 7-11 FT; 16 assists; 24 rebounds; 7 steals; 16 fouls; 7 turnovers . . . Scoring:   Hunter Kloos 18, PJ Johnson 12, Tenzin Dahl 9, Alex Panitzke 6, Luke Danielson 5, Marc Gruber 2, Levi Johnson 2, Dylan Alexander 1 . . . Rebounding:  Alexander 4, Panitzke 4, PJ Johnson 3, Noah Palmer 3, Dahl 3, Kloos 2 . . Assists:  Alexander 5, Panitzke 3, PJ Johnson 2,  Kloos 2, Gruber 2 . Steals:  Alexander 3

SC stats:   Scoring:   Jay Neubert 25, Matthew Warring 19 . Other stats not available

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