The Minnewaska Area boys basketball team is off to a 2-1 start after winning its first two games last week before losing, Saturday at Redwood Valley.  All three games were on the road.

The Lakers, who went 4-23 in 2021-22, 1-25 in 2022-23 and 2-25 last season, lost five players from last year’s team, including All-Conference pick Dylan Alexander and honorable mention choice Alex Panitzke, along with Austin Ballhagen, Jack Majerus and Ryland Martin.

Minnewaska Area beat KMS to open up the schedule last Tuesday night (76-56) and also beat BBE, Thursday (64-47) before losing 87-47 to a very strong Redwood Valley team, Saturday.  A recap of the Redwood game will appear in next week’s paper.

The Lakers finally get their first taste of their home court with three home games this week.  Minnewaska is set to host NLS, Tuesday (tomorrow) before hosting Barnesville, Thursday, and Menahga, Friday, Dec. 13.

•  Back to coach the Lakers is second-year head coach Zach Traphagen, who will be assisted by Brian Walker, Gabe Eisenbacher, Brian Gruber and Brett Thorfinnson.

This year’s Minnewaska Area boys basketball roster includes seniors Carter Meyer, Zach Palmer, Levi Johnson, Connor Frey, Jacob Mrnak, Caden Larson, Tenzin Dahl, Ian Mills, Kaiden Harvey, Owen Meulebroeck and Chase Wacker; and juniors Tristan O’Neil, Marc Gruber, Luke Danielson, Riley Week, Drew Bleick, Connor Erickson and Oliver VanDerHagen.

West Central Area won last year’s WCC title with a 12-2 record, followed by Sauk Centre and Montevideo (both 10-4), Morris Area-CA (9-5), Melrose Area (8-6), BOLD (5-9), Minnewaska Area (2-12) and Benson (0-14).

Waska 76, KMS 56

The Lakers opened up the new season with a convincing 76-56 victory at KMS last Tuesday night.  Minnewaska Area led 41-35 at halftime before pulling away with a 35-21 margin in the second half.

The Lakers were dominant at both ends of the floor, shooting 48 percent from the field, including 10-of-19 (52 percent) on three-pointers, and also recording 11 steals while holding KMS to just 56 points.

Marc Gruber was one of a number of Lakers with hot hands.  Gruber was 8-of-13 from the field, including 5-of-8 on three-pointers, to lead the Lakers with 21 points, two assists and three rebounds.

Connor Frey added 11 points, two boards and two steals, going 3-of-4 on three-pointers, while Levi Johnson had 10 points and three assists, and Luke Danielson had 10 points, two steals and a team-high seven boards.

Those four players combined to go 20-of-33 from the field, including 10-of-16 from long range.

“We’re proud of the effort and energy the boys came out and play with tonight,” said coach Zach Traphagen.  “It always helps when some shots go in to start the game, but the tone was set by how we played on the defensive side of the ball.”

Nine different Lakers hit the scoring column as Zach Palmer had a great all-around game with eight points, four assists, six rebounds and two steals, Tristan O’Neil had six points, four assists and five boards, Tenzin Dahl supplied four points, two assists and four rebounds, Owen Meulebroeck had four points, two steals and five boards, and Kaiden Harvey added two points.

Those are the top nine players you’ll see in the lineup at most times for the Lakers this year — six seniors and three juniors.

Teagan Diederich and Hunter Engelke had 12 points each to lead the Saints, who struggled in the second half, scoring just 21 points.  “There’s lots to be happy about in this game, but we need to keep improving each game because the competition will only get harder,” coach Traphagen said.  “However, it was a great way to start the year!”

KMS 64, BBE 47

The Lakers outscored the Jaguars 35-17 in the second half to turn a 30-29 halftime deficit into a 64-47 win, Thursday night at BBE.

“It was a great effort by our guys tonight,” coach Traphagen said.  “We have the luxury of having a pretty deep bench and that certainly helped us out in the second half.  We’re extremely proud of the defensive effort, especially in the second half, holding them to 17 points.

“We have another road game on Saturday in Redwood that will require a very determined effort.”

Zach Palmer and Marc Gruber led the surge for the Lakers as Palmer had a double-double of 10 assists and 11 rebounds to go along with six points and seven steals, while Gruber had 20 points, three assists and four steals.

“What an unbelievable effort by senior Zach Palmer,” coach Traphagen said.  “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a stat line quite like his tonight  He really came through for us tonight!”

It was a great game for the Lakers, who improved to 2-0 for the season after winning a total of two games all of last year.

The Lakers shot 38 percent from the field (26-for-67), but were 8-of-22 from long range and 5-of-7 from the line.

Palmer had almost half of his team’s 15 steals and gave his team a boost time after time with a big steal, big rebound or crucial assist.

Connor Frey added 12 points and four boards for Minnewaska Area, while Tenzin Dahl had 11 points, five rebounds and three steals, and Luke Danielson had six points, four boards and three blocked shots.

Also scoring for the Lakers were Levi Johnson with three points, three assists and two rebounds, Tristan O’Neil and Owen Meulebroeck with two points each, and Kaiden Harvey with two points and two rebounds.

Other basketball notes

Members of the B-squad team are juniors Carter Huckle, Connor Erickson, Drew Bleick, Riley Week, Alan Svec and Oliver Van Der Hagen; sophomores Marshall Kopp, Caden Christensen, Ben Toohey, Caleb Kath, Tydan Stewart and Cale Johnsrud; and ninth-graders Cavin Thorfinnson and Carson Beyer, and members of the C-squad team are ninth-graders Marshall Gruber, Asher Downs, Braden Pribyl, Bryden Scharmer, Carter Myrom, Logan Johnson, Tyreese Hookom, Owen Greene, Tyler Swanson, Aiden McCrory and Thatcher Sherlin; eighth-grader Chase Radermacher; and seventh-grader Taylor Hoffert.

Waska 76, at KMS 56

Minnewaska (1-0) 41 35 — 76

KMS 35 21 — 56

WASKA stats:  31-64 FG (10-19 3pt); 4-5 FT; 18 assists; 5 blocks;’ 34 rebounds; 11 steals; 17 fouls; 11 turnovers . . . Scoring:   Marc Gruber 21, Connor Frey 11, Luke Danielson 10, Levi Johnson 10, Zach Palmer 8, Tristan O’Neil 6, Owen Meulebroeck 4, Tenzin Dahl 4, Kaiden Harvey 2 . . . Rebounding:  Danielson 7, Palmer 6, O’Neil 5, Meulebroeck 5, Dahl 4, Gruber 3, Frey 2 . . . Assists:  O’Neil 4, Palmer 4, Johnson 3, Gruber 2, Dahl 2 . . . Steals:  Palmer 2, Danielson 2, Frey 2, Meulebroeck 2 . . . Blocks:  Meulebroeck 2

KMS stats:   Scoring:  Teagen Diederich 12, Hunter Engelke 12, Gavin Mulder 9, Talen Riley . . . Rebounding:  Engelke 5 . . . Other stats not available

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Waska 64, at BBE 47

BBE 30 17 — 47

Minnewaska (2-0) 29 35 — 64

WASKA stats:  26-67 FG (8-22 3pt); 5-7 FT; 18 assists; 3 blocks; 35 rebounds; 15 steals; 15 fouls; 7 turnovers . . . Scoring:   Marc Gruber 20, Connor Frey 12, Tenzin Dahl 11, Zach Palmer 6, Luke Danielson 6, Levi Johnson 3, Tristan O’Neil 2, Kaiden Harvey 2, Owen Meulebroeck 2 . . . Rebounding:  Palmer 11, Dahl 5, Gruber 4, Danielson 4, Frey 4, Johnson 2, Harvey 2 . . Assists:  Palmer 10, Johnson 3, Gruber 3 . . . Steals  Palmer 7, Dahl 3, five others with one each . . . Blocks:  Danielson 3

BBE stats:   Scoring:  Josh Walstrom 14, Taylor Piper 13, Luke Illies 9 . . . Rebounding:  Illies 12 . . . Other stats not available

Check out more photos in our photo gallery!