The Minnewaska Area JV boys basketball team finished the 2022-23 season with a 16-9 record.  The team was coached by Nick Danielson.  “Except for a bad loss to Morris and a couple of lopsided wins against Benson, most of the other games were close and competitive, with several of them coming down to the final possession,” coach Danielson said.  “We had three overtime games and a couple games we won on last-second shots.

“The boys played a fun style of basketball, doing a lot of pressing on defense, and pushing the pace on offense while shooting a lot of 3s, sometimes a few too many.”

Connor Frey led the team in scoring this season with 213 points.  Other members of the team were Marc Gruber (192 points), Zach Palmer (175), Luke Danielson (161), Levi Johnson (151), Owen Meulebroeck (122), Jacob Mrnak (72), Carter Meyer (61), Kaiden Harvey (44), Ian Mills (13), Zach Guggisberg (10), Lucas Tauber (4) and Chase Wacker (3).

The team had high point totals of 81 during an 81-40 victory over Benson and 80 points during an 80-25 win over Hope Academy, while the season low was 25 points during a late-season 55-25 loss to Morris Area and a 27-25 loss to Osakis to end the season.

Defensively, the team gave up a season-high 60 points twice during a 60-57 overtime loss to Morris and a 60-46 loss to West Central Area midway through the season, while the Lakers also gave up a season-low 25 points during the win over Hope Academy.

“It was a very fun and exciting season.  The boys grew and developed a lot throughout the year,” coach Danielson said.