The Minnewaska Area boys basketball team put together one of its best games of the season in opening up the Section 3AA Tourney with a 61-27 thumping of Litchfield during a game played at home, Friday night.

Minnewaska led 15-2 only four minutes into the game and 34-14 at halftime before building a 30-point lead (50-20) with about nine minutes to play.

“It was a great game for us from the opening tip to the final buzzer, including an awesome playoff atmosphere that definitely helped give our guys some extra juice tonight,” head coach Zach Traphagen said.  “What a great final game for these seniors on our home court and the best part is we get another practice and another game with this group.”

The Lakers, who were seeded fourth in the north half of Section 3AA, move on to face top-seeded Montevideo at 6 p.m., Tuesday (tomorrow)  at Willmar High School.  

If Minnewaska upsets Montevideo, it would play again at 6 p.m., Saturday at SMSU in Marshall against the winner of the Morris Area-Paynesville game in a battle for the sub-section title.

In the results  that follow is also information about the Lakers’ regular-season finale at BOLD, Feb. 22, a 75-65 loss.

The Lakers are 12-14 overall heading into the game against Montevideo and finished the WCC schedule with a 3-9 mark, which tied the Lakers for sixth place with Melrose Area.

Montevideo won the WCC with an 11-1 league mark and has beaten the Lakers twice already this season, 64-56 and 91-49.

BOLD 75, Waska 65

The Lakers closed out the regular-season with a 75-65 loss at BOLD, Saturday, Feb. 22.  Minnewaska Area trailed 39-28 at halftime before outscoring the Warriors 37-36 in the second half. “It was a very physical game tonight,” coach Zach Traphagen said.  “I’m proud of our guys battling back after falling behind by 20 in the early part of the second half.  We cut it to eight with 4 minutes to go and kept the pressure on them. It was a good response to a tough loss the night before against Osakis.”

Levi Johnson and Tristan O’Neil led the offense.  Johnson was 4-of-6 on three-pointers on the way to 17 points and two rebounds, while O’Neil had a pair of 3-pointers on the way to 14 points, three assists, three boards and two steals.

The Lakers shot 42 percent from the field (26-for-61), including 9-of-24 from long range.  Minnewaska Area was also 4-of-8 from the line.

Marc Gruber added nine points and two assists, while Kaiden Harvey was 4-of-6 from the field on the way to six points and four boards and Tenzin Dahl added seven points, six assists and four rebounds.

BOLD shot about 50 percent from the field (24-for-49) and had almost a third of its points from the line, going 21-for-25 from the charity stripe.

Also scoring for the Lakers were Connor Frey with four points, two assists and four rebounds, Zach Palmer with four points, two boards and two steals, and Luke Danielson with two points, four assists and a team-high six boards.

Waska 61, Litchfield 27

The Lakers scored the first basket on a shot by Kaiden Harvey and the rout was on.  Tristan O’Neil was hot early, Levi Johnson heated up the second half of the first stanza, and Tenzin Dahl and Harvey were consistent throughout as the Lakers led by 13 points only four minutes into the game and never looked back

The Lakers hit four early 3-pointers to build leads of 15-2, 24-8 and 34-13 before settling for a 34-14 halftime lead.

Minnewaska Area cooled down from long range, but still opened up the second half with an 11-4 run to build a 45-18 lead and then went on another run of 5-0 to claim its largest lead of the game at 50-20 with nine minutes left to put any doubt to rest.

O’Neil, Johnson, Harvey and Dahl combined for 49 points to easily surpass the Litchfield point total by themselves.  Dahl had a team-high 14 points and eight rebounds, while O’Neil added 13 points, two assists and four steals, Johnson went 3-for-5 from long range on the way to 11 points and three boards, and Harvey had 11 points, three assists and five rebounds.

The Lakers got scoring contributions from eight players as Marc Gruber chipped in with four points, two assists, four rebounds and two steals, Connor Frey had four points and two boards, Zach Palmer filled up the stat sheet with two points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals, and Owen Meulebroeck helped the Lakers hold a 40-26 rebounding edge with two points, two assists and eight rebounds.

“Defense and rebounding were the keys tonight and our guys answered the call and then some,” coach Traphagen  said.  “We had a great week of practice and it showed on the court tonight.”

The Lakers were only 5-of-28 from 3-point range, but shot 52 percent (20-for-38) on two-point field goals.  Minnewaska Area also forced Litchfield into 19 turnovers.

at BOLD 75, Waska 65

Minnewaska (11-14) 28 37 — 65

BOLD 39 36 — 75

WASKA:  26-61 FG (9-24 3pt); 4-8 FT; 19 assists; 2 blocks; 28 rebounds; 7 steals; 20 fouls; 16 turnovers . . . Scoring:   Levi Johnson 17, Tristan O’Neil 14, Marc Gruber 9, Kaiden  Harvey 8, Tenzin Dahl 7, Connor Frey 4, Zach Palmer 4, Luke Danielson 2 . . . Reb:  Danielson 6, Dahl 4, Harvey 4, Frey 4, O’Neil 3, Palmer 2, Johnson 2 . . . Assists:  Dahl 6, Danielson 4, O’Neil 3, Gruber 2, Frey 2 . .Steals:  Palmer 2, O’Neil 2

BOLD stats:   24-49 FG (6-18 3pt); 21-25 FT; 27 rebounds; 10 steals; 14 fouls; 14 to . . . Other stats NA

————————————–

at Waska 61, Litchfield 27

Litchfield 14 13 — 27

Minnewaska (12-14) 36 25 — 61

WASKA stats:  25-66 FG (5-28 3pt); 6-8 FT; 17 assists; 3 blocks; 40 rebounds; 13 steals; 12 fouls; 10 turnovers . . . Scoring:   Tenzin Dahl 14, Tristan O’Neil 13, Kaiden Harvey 11, Levi Johnson 11, Connor Frey 4, Marc Gruber 4, Zach Palmer 2, Owen Meulebroeck 2 . . . Reb:  Dahl 8, Meulebroeck 8, Harvey 5, Luke Danielson 4, Gruber 4, Palmer 3, Johnson 3, Frey 2 . . Assists:  Palmer 4, Harvey 3, O’Neil 2, Gruber 2, Meulebroeck 2 . . Steals:  O’Neil 4, Palmer 3, Gruber 2 . . Blks:  O’Neil 2

LITCH:   11-43 FG (1-15 3pt); 4-10 FT; 26 rebounds; 9 fouls; 19 turnovers Other stats NA

Check out more photos in our photo gallery!