I have seen "MACA" on warmup shirts and on billboards here. It's "Morris Area Chokio Alberta." Insert hyphens or slashes if you wish.
Anyway, our MACA boys basketball team won its first-round post-season game Saturday over Yellow Medicine East. We were fortunate to win as we were down by seven at halftime, 27-20. That was rather shocking, considering our won-lost mark was quite superior. You can toss aside the won-lost records for the post-season. We got our engines humming for the second half, giving Tiger fans relief as we outscored the Sting 42-27. So the final score was 62-54 as we advanced to round 2.
Our foe now: ACGC. We'll vie at Willmar.
Jaret Johnson supplied important fuel Saturday with his 17 points. He made one three-pointer. Lukus Manska made two 3-pointers and Tate Nelson made one. Manska's point total was 12. Nelson and Camden Arndt each put in ten points. Tim Travis scored nine. Jacob Zosel added four points to the mix.
Arndt topped the rebound list with ten followed by Travis with five. Zosel supplied six assists while Arndt and Nelson each had four. Three Tigers each had three steals: Nelson, Zosel and Manska.
For Yellow Medicine East, Nick Peterson topped the scoring list with 16. Nicky Lindstrom supplied ten points. Three Sting players each scored six: Cole Richter, Tom Lindstrom and Trent Skjefle. Two Sting players each scored five: Will Jeseritz and Noah Christianson.
YME made a late push that created some suspense. We led by 18 with about two minutes remaining, and it turned out we needed that cushion.
Girls: New London-Spicer 62, Tigers 50
The smart money always seems to be on the New London-Spicer girls, right? My, what a long-lasting dynasty. NL-Spicer was the roadblock for our MACA Tigers in the sub-section title game. Our Tigers were buoyed by a somewhat surprising victory over the Minnewaska Area Lakers. Alas, we could not parlay that success one step further. We met the Wildcats and certainly we were not blown out, but we did get defeated.
The score was 62-50. The site was Southwest State University, home of the Mustangs. So the Wildcats, coached by Mike Dreier - toupee or no toupee? - took the Section 3AA-North title.
NL-Spicer entered the Thursday, March 3, game with a win streak of 12. But our Tigers boasted a similarly impressive skein: nine straight. But something had to give. The team with the longer win streak took charge early. But finally, midway in the second half, the orange and black showed new life. We got the NL-Spicer advantage whittled down to seven. But we couldn't overcome the Wildcats and the special defensive resolve they showed on this night.
Coach Dreier complimented the Tigers on being well-coached. Of course, that's easy to say when you've won the game.
I remember writing about Wildcat Shea Oman last year. Well, she's at least as good this season. She's the junior point guard, orchestrating a pretty slick attack. On Thursday she poured in 23 points and had six assists. We outscored the Wildcats 37-36 in the second half.
The Wildcats worked to minimize the damage done by Ashley Solvie in the post. Ashley scored just nine points. Dreier noted that she certainly got the main focus of his team's defense. NL-Spicer conceded some points to Correy Hickman. But all in all his team's defense jelled as planned. Hickman did come through with 19 points.
NL-Spicer advanced to face Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (from the South) in the 3AA final. So, the Tigers' season ends with a record of 18-10.
We need to acknowledge the Tigers' three-point shooting on Thursday. It was most impressive with Hickman making four 3's. Riley Decker made three and Maddie Carrington two. Hickman was followed on the scoring list by Decker and Solvie each with nine. Carrington put in seven points and Malory Anderson six.
Oman was followed on the NL-Spicer scoring list by three teammates each with nine points: Brooke Beuning, Emma Hanson and Morgan Swenson. Then it was Kabrie Weber with seven points, Erin Tebben with four and Michelle Johnson with one. Beuning sank three shots from three-point range. Oman and Weber each made one long-ranger.
Tebben snared six rebounds followed by Swenson with five and Weber and Hanson each with four. Oman had six assists followed by Beuning and Weber each with five. Beuning had four steals followed by Swenson with three. Congrats to our MACA Tigers on their 18-10 season, full of neat memories.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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