The Minnewaska Area boys basketball team ran into a pair of hot teams last week, losing to Pipestone last Monday in a game played at SMSU, 57-36, and also losing at Morris Area-CA, Friday, 65-41.

The first two-loss week of the season lowered the Lakers’ season record to 6-4 and conference mark to 1-2.

Montevideo continues to lead the WCC with a 4-0 league mark, followed by Sauk Centre (2-1), Morris Area and WCA (both 2-2), Minnewaska Area, Melrose Area and BOLD (all 1-2) and Benson (0-2).

This week, the Lakers were set to play at Paynesville, Tuesday, Jan. 7, host West Central Area, Thursday, Jan. 9 and play at Litchfield, Friday.

Pipestone 57, Waska 36

The Lakers played Pipestone during a holiday game at SMSU in Marshall, Monday, Dec. 30, losing 57-36.  Minnewaska Area trailed by a 21-16 margin after one half before being outscored 36-20 in a rough second half for the Lakers.

“It was a tough night shooting for us and unfortunately, we never found our rhythm,” coach Zach Traphagen said.  “Lots of things to improve on from this one, but credit goes to Pipestone for playing very solid, physical defense that effectively took us out of some of our sets.”

No Laker scored in double figures and Minnewaska Area shot 26 percent from the field (14-for-52), including 4-of-17 from long range.

Marc Gruber led the Lakers with eight points, two assists and two rebounds, while Zach Palmer had seven points, four boards and five steals, and Levi Johnson added six points and four assists.

The Lakers also got five points from Tristan O’Neil, four points and two rebounds each from Luke Danielson and Tenzin Dahl, and two points from Carter Meyer.

In addition, Owen Meulebroeck had four rebounds and Kaiden Harvey had three.

“We also had some letdowns on the defensive side of the ball which is unacceptable,” Traphagen said.  “A solid start to the season going 6-3 in 2024, but we know our best basketball is still yet to be played this season.”

Morris 65, Waska 41

The Lakers got off to a poor start against the Tigers, Friday night at Morris, falling behind 39-18 by halftime on the way to a 65-41 loss.

The Lakers shot just 29 percent from the field (14-for-47) and were outrebounded by a 38-27 margin.  Minnewaska Area also turned the ball over 20 times against the relentless Tiger defensive pressure.

Marc Gruber had 10 points and two assists to lead the Lakers, while Connor Frey was 3-of-7 from long range on the way to 10 points and three boards.  “It was another tough night shooting the basketball for us at Morris,” coach Traphagen said.  “Morris is a very good team and they played very well tonight. When you play against teams of their caliber, you can’t dig yourselves in too big of a hole early on in the game..”

Tenzin Dahl added nine points, two assists, five rebounds and four steals, while Kaiden Harvey had six points and Carter Meyer, Zach Palmer and Levi Johnson all ended the game with two points.

“A lot of credit goes to the Tigers; they really stuck it to us in the first half,” Traphagen said.  “But, even with the struggles we had scoring the ball tonight, this team continued to fight and came out in the second half getting five consecutive stops and cutting the lead down to 13. 

“Morris eventually made some big threes to get its lead back up to over 20 points, which was too much to overcome tonight.  We will get back on track and fix the shooting woes.”

Palmer also had three boards and a team-high five steals for the Lakers, while Luke Danielson added five rebounds and Owen Meulebroeck had four boards.

at Pipestone 57, Waska 36

Minnewaska (6-3) 16 20 — 36

Pipestone 21 36 — 57

WASKA stats:  14-52 FG (4-17 3pt); 4-6 FT; 8 assists; 20 rebounds; 9 steals; 13 fouls; 9 turnovers. . . Scoring:   Marc Gruber 8, Zach Palmer 7, Levi Johnson 6, Tristan O’Neil 5, Tenzin Dahl 4, Luke Danielson 4, Carter Meyer 2 . . . Rebounding:  Owen Meulebroeck 4, Palmer 4, Kaiden Harvey 3, Dahl 2, Danielson 2, Gruber 2 . . . Assists:  Johnson 4, Gruber 2 . . . Steals:  Palmer 5

PIPE stats:   24-43 FG (6-13 3pt); 3-4 FT; 27 rebounds; 9 fouls; 14 turnovers . . . Other stats not available

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at Morris-CA 65, Waska 41

Minnewaska (6-4) 18 23 — 41

Morris Area 39 26 — 65

WASKA stats:  14-47 FG (5-18 3pt); 8-14 FT; 12 assists; 3 blocks; 27 rebounds; 13 steals; 9 fouls; 20 turnovers . . . Scoring:   Marc Gruber 10, Connor Frey 10, Tenzin Dahl 9, Kaiden Harvey 6, Carter Meyer 2, Zach Palmer 2, Levi Johnson 2 . . . Rebounding:  Luke Danielson 5, Dahl 5, Owen Muelebroeck 4, Tristan O’Neil 4, Palmer 3, Frey 3 . . Assists:  O’Neil 3, Johnson 2, Dahl 2, Gruber 2 . . . Steals  Palmer 5, Dahl 4, O’Neil 2

MORRIS stats:   26-56 FG (8-22 3pt); 5-10 FT; 38 rebounds; 9 fouls; 17 turnovers . . . Other stats not available

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