The Minnewaska Area boys basketball team fell to 1-13 overall with a pair of non-conference losses last week.  The Lakers played one of their best games of the season before losing at BBE last Monday night, 72-64, and the Lakers also fell at home to Barnesville, Thursday, 79-38.

Minnewaska was also set to host Benson, Friday, but results of that game will be highlighted next week.  Also coming up is a home game with BOLD, Thursday, Jan. 26 and a makeup game at Litchfield, Saturday, Jan. 28.

BBE 72, Minnewaska 64

Kaden Pieper had 30 points and helped BBE hold off an upset bid by Minnewaska Area during a 72-64 BBE victory last Monday night at Belgrade. Pieper, who also had one 3-pointer on the night, went 12-for-12 from the field and 3-of-3 from the line for his other 27 points.

Minnewaska Area meanwhile, played one of its best games of the season, going 25-for-52 from the field, including 16-of-22 on two-point field goals attempts.

The Lakers, who trailed 39-29 at halftime before outscoring the home team 35-33 in the second half, had four players score in double figures.  Hunter Kloos had 14 points, six rebounds and three steals, while Dylan Alexander added 13 points, six assists and six boards, going 6-of-8 from the field.

In addition, PJ Johnson had 12 points, six assists and three rebounds, and Tenzin Dahl also had 12 points to go along with five rebounds and three steals.

“The offense was really spread out for us, and it was good to see some other guys step up offensively,” coach Hunter Salathe said.  “We had the deficit down to seven points with about a minute and half to go and on one possession, we had three 3-point attempts just miss, which would have been huge, but that’s the way it goes.”

Minnewaska, which was 5-of-9 from the line, also got eight points, three assists and four boards from Alex Panitzke and five points on 2-of-2 shooting from sophomore Levi Johnson.

Pieper had 17 of his 30 points after halftime, while teammate Luke Dingmann, who added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Jaguars, had 14 points in the first half. 

“We started the game in a diamond-and-1 defense and then a box-and-1 defense on Pieper, but then Dingmann really hurt us so we just switched to face-guarding Pieper and Dingmann the rest of the game,” coach Salathe said.  “We slowed them down and their other guys didn’t hurt us too much, but I was surprised that they still ended up with 30 and 20 points.”

•  In the B-squad game, Minnewaska Area earned a hard-fought 57-54 victory with sophomore Connor Frey leading the way with 19 points, going 5-of-9 on three-pointers.

Barnesville 79, Waska 38

Barnesville stormed out to an early 17-3 lead after the game’s first five minutes and went on to a 79-38 victory during a non-conference game at home, Thursday night.

The Lakers cut the deficit to 10 (21-11) on a basket by Tenzin Dahl and three free-throws by Hunter Kloos, but Barnesville proceeded to go on runs of 8-0 and 9-3 later in the first half to go into halftime with a 44-26 lead.

It was all Barnesville in the second half as the tall and aggressive Trojans were just too much for the Lakers on this night.  Barnesville outscored Minnewaska 35-12 in the second half.

The Lakers were led by Tenzin Dahl’s 13 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals, while three others added five points each.

Barnesville, a senior-dominated team with one player 6-foot-7, one 6-foot-4 and two others at 6-foot-3, was led by Tate Inniger’s 19 points and 12 more from 5-11 guard Carson Hagen.

It was the fourth time in 14 games the Lakers have been held in the 30s.

Alex Panitzke added five points and two boards for the Lakers, while Dylan Alexander had five points, two assists and two rebounds, and Hunter Kloos added five points, three coming on free-throws.

In addition, James Ward had four points, Zach Palmer and Owen Meulebroeck both had three points, PJ Johnson had four assists and two rebounds, Ryland Martin had four rebounds, and Noah Palmer chipped in with three boards.

The Lakers shot 26 percent from the field (13-for-50), including 6-of-28 from long range, and went 6-of-8 from the field.  Minnewaska also turned the ball over 21 times.

•  In the B-squad game, the Laker JV team won a slugfest over Barnesville, 42-38, improving to 9-5 for the season.  Owen Meuelebroeck lead the way for the Lakers with 12 points and five boards, while Marc Gruber had nine points and 11 rebounds.

at BBE 72, Minnewaska 64

Minnewaska (1-12) 29 35 — 64

BBE 39 33 — 72

WASKA stats: 25-52 FG (9-30 3pt); 5-9 FT; 16 assists; 24 rebounds; 6 steals; 15 fouls; 9 turnovers . . . Scoring:  Hunter Kloos 14, Dylan Alexander 13, Tenzin Dahl 12, PJ Johnson 12, Alex Panitzke 8, Levi Johnson 5 . . . Rebounding:  Alexander 6, Kloos 6, Panitzke 4, Dahl 4, PJ Johnson 3 . . . Assists:  PJ Johnson 6, Alexander 6, Panitzke 3 . . . Steals:  Kloos 3, Dahl 2

BBE stats:  Scoring:  Kaden Pieper 30, Luke Dingmann 20, Luke Illies 8 . .  Rebounding:  Dingmann 10 . . . Other stats NA

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Barnesville 79, Waska 38

Barnesville (7-3) 44 35 — 79

Minnewaska (1-13) 26 12 — 38

WASKA stats:  13-50 FG (6-28 3pt); 6-8 FT; 13 assists; 23 rebounds; 7 steals; 16 fouls; 21 turnovers . . . Scoring:   Tenzin Dahl 13, Alex Panitzke 5, Dylan Alexander 5, Hunter Kloos 5, James Ward 4, Owen Meulebroeck 3, Zach Palmer 3 . . . Rebounding:  Dahl 6, Ryland Martin 4, Noah Palmer 3, PJ Johnson 2, Panitzke 2, Alexander 2, Meulebroeck 2 . . Assists:  Johnson 4, Alexander 2, Dahl 2 . . . Steals: Dahl 2, five others with 1

BARNES stats:   Scoring:   Tate Inniger 19, Carson Hagen 12, Gannon Bolgrean 11, Owen Riddle 11 . . . Other stats not available

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