By Tom Crawford News Editor

The Staples Motley Cardinal boys will be watching the basketball action at the state tournament from the sidelines once again this year.

After winning their first two games in sub section playoff action, the Cardinal team lost out to the Morris Tigers 79-64 in the finals of the West Sub Section 6AA playoffs on Tuesday, March 17.

Morris, the No. 1 seed for the sub section, then went on to lose in the Section 6AA finals to last year's champ, New London-Spicer on Friday night. NL-S will be the Section 6AA team in this week's state Class AA tournament.

Coach Lynn Peterson's Cardinals fell behind 6-0 in the opening four minutes and never led in the Morris game, played at the University of Minnesota - Morris gym.

The Cards trailed by three points and four points during the opening half, but fell just short of mounting a comeback. They trailed by eight, 32-24 at half. That was about as close as they were in the entire second half, after Morris opened the final 18 minutes with a 10-3 run.

It was not the best performance for the team this season. As Coach Peterson said, "We got out-hustled, on defense, on rebounds and our patience failed."

Second place disappointment Staples Motley's Cardinal boys were not a bunch of happy campers Tuesday, March 17, dejectedly accepting their second place trophy after losing to Morris 79-64 in the championship of the West Sub Section 6AA basketball tournament. The varsity boys included Staples World photo by Tom Crawford seniors (with the trophy) Jacob Zetah (3) Adam Cox (2) and Mike Lindaman (5); and Jordan Riewer (32), Isaac Fuhrman, Jason Johnson, Alex Jansson, Trevor Wentworth (4), Gunner Johnson, Brandon Larson, Jordan Peterson, Jon Bristow and Derek Wolhowe (21).

"If you look at the teams (Pelican Rapids, Grand Rapids, St. Bernard's, Crosby-Ironton) that we had trouble with this year," Coach Peterson said, "they came out and punched us and got us on our heels. They'd put in a rebound and get on the inside and make their shots."

Rebounding in the Morris game was a good example. The Cards could not buy an offensive rebound. For the game, Morris had 11 offensive boards to just six for Staples Motley. Peterson took that a step farther, noting the total

shots per team was 59 for

the Tigers, and 59 for SM. "They missed 26 shots and

got 11 rebounds. We missed 36 shots and we had six rebounds (under their own basket)," Peterson said.

"They just beat us at everything," he summed up in disappointment.

Jordan Riewer led the Cardinals in scoring, hitting eight three's (five late in the game) to total 30 points. Jordan Peterson added 11 (making three of four three point attempts) and Jon Bristow added 10 points on inside shooting.

SM was out-rebounded 45 to 26, getting six offensive and 20 defensive boards. Riewer had six, Derek Wolhowe four and Bristow and Jake Zetah each had three.

Peterson said the strong second half start sealed the Tigers win. "Right away, they scored the first six and we were down by 16-17 points. We needed to do something differently, so we tried a full court defense. We also substituted but it seemed like we were always the tired ones and they were fresh."

A comment was heard from Morris fans that their team played their best game of the season. "We've heard that from other teams, from Hawley, from Pequot Lakes. That means they all respected us," Peterson said.

Perhaps his biggest disappointment of this year's team was an inability to play defense the way Peterson feels is necessary. "The other teams respected us, and did things against us to stop us from scoring. We didn't do anything to prevent them from scoring and from winning," he said.

SM was 14 for 33 in three point shooting, while Morris only attempted three long shots, and made two of those.

Morris was led by Jackson Henrich with 21, Lincoln Arnold 20, and Cory Hennen with 10.

Riewer and Wolhowe were named to the sub section All Tournament team.

Game Results

March 17 Morris 32 47 - 79

 

Staples Motley 24 40 - 64

Morris (79) Cory Hennen 10, Taylor Nohl 9, Tyler Meichsner 7, Corey Nohl 3, Eric Riley 4, Lincoln Arnold 20, Chris Scott 5, Jackson Henrich 21. FG 33-62 (53 percent), FT 11-20 (55 percent), 3-point baskets: Meichsner 2.

Staples Motley (64) Mike Lindaman 3, Jason Johnson 2, Jordan Peterson 11, Derek Wolhowe 8, Jordan Riewer 30, Jon Bristow 10. FG 23-62 (37 percent), FT 4-11(36 percent), 3-point baskets: 14 (Riewer 8, Peterson 3, Wolhowe 2, Lindaman).

Overall: SM 20-9, Morris 22-4