The Minnewaska Area boys basketball team had the week off last week after both of its scheduled games were postponed due to weather.

The Lakers had a game last Tuesday with Melrose postponed to Monday, Feb. 27, and a game  Thursday at home against Breckenridge, which had already been rescheduled once, was canceled due to weather.

With only a week left in the regular-season, the Lakers didn’t have many open dates and the conference games take precedent.

Minnewaska Area, which is 1-22 overall and 0-13 in the conference, is also set to host Osakis, Tuesday (tomorrow)  to close out the regular-season before preparing for the start of the Section 3AA Boys Basketball Tournament.

The Lakers were seeded eighth of eight teams in their half of the section and will open up the section tourney at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 4 at top-seeded Morris Area-CA.

Second-seeded EVW (19-5) has the best record and QRF rating, but third-seeded Paynesville (18-5) and Morris Area (17-6) are very close and Morris has defeated both teams already this year, while EVW has defeated Paynesville twice this year.

WCA earned the fourth seed, followed by NLS, Litchfield, ACGC and Minnewaska Area.

Jackson County Central (14-8), Pipestone Area (12-10), Windom Area (16-9) and Luverne (12-10) are the top four seeds and the only teams with winning records in the other half of the section.  Section 3AA uses a coaches’ vote to determine the seedings.

The Section 3AA Tourney continues Thursday, March 9 at a neutral site for the quarterfinals.  The sub-section championship game is set for 8 p.m., Saturday, March 11 at SMSU in Marshall and the Section 3AA championship is 5 p.m., Thursday, March 16 at SMSU.

The only victory for the Lakers this year was a 67-45 win against Hope Academy during the HLWW Holiday Tourney, Dec. 28.

•  Senior Hunter Kloos has led or tied for the team lead in scoring in 14 of 23 games, while sophomore Tenzin Dahl has led the team seven times and senior PJ Johnson and junior Alex Panitzke have been the leading scorers two times each.

Dahl had a team-high 25 points during a loss to Howard Lake-WW during the HLWW Tourney and also had 23 points during the win over Hope Academy, while Kloos has high point totals of 21 and 20 points this year.

Junior Dylan Alexander and Dahl have led or tied for the team lead in rebounding eight times each this year, while Kloos led the Lakers in rebounding seven times, PJ Johnson was the leading rebounder four times, and Panitzke led the team twice.

Kloos also has the team-best for rebounding this season with 10 boards during the win over Hope Academy.

•  The Lakers have scored over 60 points only five times this year with a season-high 67 during the win over Hope Academy and a season-low 30 points during a 69-30 loss to Paynesville.

Opponents have scored 70 or more points 14 times this season with a season-high 83 points by Montevideo during an 83-66 win over Minnewaska during the second game of the year.  Hope Academy’s 45 points is a season-low for an opponent this  season.

•  The Minnewaska Area boys basketball varsity roster includes  seniors Paul Johnson, Jr., James Ward, Noah Palmer and Hunter Kloos; juniors Alex Panitzke, Ryland Martin and Dylan Alexander; sophomores Tenzin Dahl, Levi Johnson, Zachary Palmer, Owen Meulebroeck and Connor Frey; and ninth-graders Marc Gruber and Luke Danielson.

Check out more photos in our photo gallery!