Everyone ë0-0í as Wolves begin tourney bid
Posted 3/6/03

Milacaís boys basketball team trimmed Pierz 71-56 in a non-conference game Dec. 10 at Pierz. The Wolves moved to a 40-30 halftime lead and stayed in control in the second half.

The teams meet again tonight (Thursday) at 7:30 in the quarter-finals of the Section 6AA Sub-Section 18 Tournament at Milaca.

Milaca capped a 16-6 regular season by turning back Princeton 67-51 Friday at Milaca. The Wolves are seeded No. 2 in the seven-team sub-section.

Pierz, meanwhile, tipped Holdingford 56-52 Friday. Reverse Milacaís 16-6 mark to 6-16 and you have the Pioneersí final regular-season record.

The Pioneers are seeded No. 7 in the tourney.

The numbers game favors Milaca.

Forget the numbers.

"Right now Milaca and Pierz, along with everyone else, are 0-0," said Milaca Coach Jeff Meyer. "Tournament time is a whole new season and Dec. 10 is a long time ago.

"We have to be ready. Pierz has some good players and we canít afford to look ahead. We expect a tough game."

Milaca won four of its final five regular-season games and the Wolves had an 8-1 record against other teams in the sub-section.

"We wanted to pick up some momentum heading into the tournament and we did," said Meyer. "Weíre playing well on both ends of the court and weíre playing as a team."

Milaca will open with 6-foot-3 senior Tim Veurink, 6-2 junior Daren Koppendrayer and 5-11 sophomore Adam Ruis on the perimeter, 6-4 senior Jon Matthews at a forward and 6-10 senior Eric Bergstrom at center. Jon Moorlag, a 5-11 sophomore, and Cody Pearson, a 6-1 sophomore, have been the other two players in Meyerís rotation the past month.

Bergstrom leads the Wolves with a 17.9 scoring average and an 8.6 rebounding average. Veurink has a 14.2 scoring mark while Matthews has an 8.4 average, Ruis is averaging 6.9, Koppendrayer has a 5.6 mark and Moorlag has a 5.3 average.

Mark Poepping, a 6-3 senior forward/center, leads Pierz with a 10.9 scoring average and 9.5 rebounding average. Joe Kahl, a 6-0 junior forward, is averaging 10.7 points per game while 5-11 junior guard Dan Kimman has an 8.0 average and 6-2 senior guard Mitch Weber has a 7.1 average. Jordan Loidolt (5.0 scoring average), a 5-11 junior forward, rounds out the Pioneersí starting lineup.

The top players off the bench for Pierz include 5-11 junior forward Nate Meyer, 6-0 freshman forward Mark Korf and 6-2 junior forward Justin Athman. Meyer has a 10.0 scoring average.

Bergstrom made 13 of 16 shots from the field and scored 28 points to lead Milaca in its earlier win at Pierz. He also had 11 rebounds.

"We know Bergstrom is going to get his points," said Dean Dahmen, whoís in his seventh season as Pierz head coach. "We tried about everything we could to stop him back in December and nothing worked. Plus, Milaca showed its versatility by hitting four three-pointers.

"We canít let Milacaís other players have a big night and we need to limit the number of times Bergstrom gets the ball."

The Pioneers closed the regular season by winning three of their final five games.

"We have pretty good balance on offense and we can play pretty good defense," added Dahmen. "Turnovers have been the thing thatís hurt us the most."

In other quarter-final games tonight (Thursday), third-seeded Braham hosts sixth-seeded Pine City and fourth-seeded Foley hosts fifth-seeded Mora. No. 1-seeded Hinckley-Finlayson received a bye in the quarterfinals.

The semifinals will be played Saturday at a site to be determined following the quarter-finals. The Milaca-Pierz winners will face the Braham-Pine City winner at 3 p.m., with Hinckley-Finlayson meeting the Foley-Mora winner at 7 p.m.

The title game will be Tuesday, March 11, at 8:01 p.m., at a site yet to be determined. The 8:01 start is because of township elections that day.

"Itís really a balanced sub-section," said Meyer. "There should be some great games."

Following is a capsule look at the other five teams in the sub-section.

Braham

21-5, 4-1 over final five games.

The Bombers, coached by Robert Vaughan, tipped archrival Cambridge-Isanti 62-60 in their regular-season finale Saturday. Braham has won the sub-section title the last four seasons and has been in the title game eight times over the past 12 years.

The Bombers, who lost twice to Hinckley-Finlayson, are led by 6-3 sophomore forward Josh Vaughan and 6-1 ninth grade guard Isaiah Dahlman. Both can light up the scoreboard in a hurry.

The Bombers also have reliable 6-1 senior Tony Auger, who can assert himself inside.

Milaca topped Braham 67-58 Jan. 30 behind 23 points and 14 rebounds from Bergstrom. Vaughan led Braham with 37 points and Dahlman didnít play because of the flu.

"Braham has two great scorers but weíve also seen that in Foley and Princeton," said Meyer. "You have to force Vaughan and Dahlman to work hard and you have to make sure their other players donít get easy opportunities to score."

Foley

15-10 overall, 4-1 over final five games.

Milaca topped the Falcons 63-60 at Foley and 73-59 at Milaca. Bergstrom and Veurink each had 19 points at Foley while Matthews scored 18 and Bergstrom had 15 at Milaca.

Coach Rich Spiczkaís Falcons are led by senior guards Bryan Moshier and Ryan Jansen and 6-7 senior post Adam Dombrovski.

The Falcons were hot down the stretch, topping Becker 64-60, Hinckley-Finlayson 72-65, Princeton 62-47 and Big Lake 74-71 in overtime in their final four games. The win over Hinckley-Finlayson came just a few hours after the sub-section seeding meeting.

"Foley is hot and on a roll," said Meyer. "They can score from the outside and they can take the ball inside."

Hinckley-Finlayson

21-4 overall, 3-2 over final five games.

Andy Schmitz, a 5-10 senior guard and son of Jaguars Coach Tim Schmitz, leads H-F with a 21-point scoring average. And, he receives plenty of scoring help from 6-0 sophomore forward Spencer Bartz (15.5) and senior center Kenrick Williams (11.0).

The Jaguars, who won the Great River Conference title with a 14-0 record, topped Milaca 69-62 Feb. 8, at Hinckley. Hinckley-Finlayson took a 26-12 first-quarter lead and was never in trouble.

Bartz scored 22 points and Schmitz had 18 in that game but, more importantly, the Jaguars bottled up Milacaís inside game, holding Bergstrom to eight points while forcing the Wolves to take 32 three-point shots.

"We werenít ready to play that day," said Meyer. "Weíll be more prepared if we meet them again.

"They have a great player in Schmitz and several other solid players. Theyíre not big but they get good rebounding position and go to the boards hard."

Mora

9-15 overall, 2-3 over final five games.

Wins over Braham and Foley showed that the Mustangs are capable of playing with anyone in the sub-section. Milaca topped Mora 71-59 at Mora behind 14 points each from Koppendrayer and Veurink and 63-43 at Milaca behind 20 points from Bergstrom.

The Mustangs are led by senior guards Mike Gunderson and Josh Oslin.

"Mora plays tough defense and forces you to work for your points," said Meyer. "Gunderson and Oslin handle the ball well and they can hit the three-pointer.

"Theyíre a team thatís capable of catching fire."

Pine City

6-16 overall, 1-4 over final five games.

Milaca rolled over the Dragons 82-40 Jan. 17 at Milaca behind 20 points from Veurink. Last week, the Wolves margin was just 11 points in a 54-43 win at Pine City.

"Pine City has improved," said Meyer. "They shoot the ball well and they can play a tough zone defense."

The Dragons are led by 6-1 senior guard Andy Arola and 6-7 senior center Tyler Hawkinson.