ADAMS – The Hayfield Vikings looked good and well-rounded, the Chatfield Gophers got revenge, the Alden-Conger Knights zipped up and down the court, and the Southland Rebels played steady ball on the opening day of the Rebel Classic Thursday.

Friday, December 17, 1999

ADAMS – The Hayfield Vikings looked good and well-rounded, the Chatfield Gophers got revenge, the Alden-Conger Knights zipped up and down the court, and the Southland Rebels played steady ball on the opening day of the Rebel Classic Thursday. These four teams were the winners and will play in the semifinals tonight. Hayfield meets Chatfield at 6:45 p.m. and Southland and Alden-Conger collide at 8:30 p.m.

Hayfield 68, NRHEG 56

The Vikings controlled the boards and the game against the Panthers.

At the half Hayfield was up 28-21. It increased that lead to 11, 38-27, five minutes into the third quarter without hitting a field goal.

The Vikings went to the line 41 times and hit 22 free throws, 18-of-30 in the second half. Justin Oakland was 8-of-10 from the line. He scored a total of 12 points in the game.

Oakland was one of three Vikings that finished in double figures. The other two were Seth Mattison with 10 and Tony Kramer with 17.

"We started the game a little sluggish," Hayfield coach Tom Kramer said. "We played well in the second half playing good man-to-man defense.

"The kids played hard and pressured them throughout with the man defense. We also definitely wanted to control the boards which we did in the second half. For the game we out-rebounded them 33-21."

Chatfield 65, Lyle/Pacelli 43

The Gophers played well and L/P didn’t in this quarterfinals game. It was a rematch from last year’s Rebel Classic championship game, which the Lyle Lions won.

This year the Gophers were the better team.

Their two post players, Tim Schellhammer and Vince Donahoe were highly active underneath.

Schellhammer scored a game-high 20 points and Donahoe scored a couple of buckets on alley oops on his way to 17, 14 in the first half.

"Schellhammer is our horse," Chatfield coach Karl Wilhelm said. "We’re going to ride him most every night."

The game was close through the first half. The Gophers scored the last four points of the half to take a 30-22 lead.

"We played pretty well in the first half," L/P coach Gary Erlandson said. "We had some open shots that we didn’t hit. The kids were a little tight.

"It would have been nice to see how the game would have turned out If we had made those shots. It looked like we missed the presence of Jason Emiliusen on the court (he injured his knee in the game against Caledonia). He doesn’t score much, but helps us with some strong rebounding and good passing and also helps give depth to the rotation."

The Gophers had pulled out to a 21-point lead after three quarters, 49-28, allowing only six points on the defensive end of the court.

"We talked at the half that we had to turn up the defense and really pressure them," Wilhelm said.

Danny Greibrok was the leading scorer for L/P with 11 points.

"Danny has done a good job coming off the bench," Erlandson said. "He is a hustler and he bangs on the boards."

Josh Kunze put in eight, Dean DeBoer, Philip Halbach and Matt Row each scored six.

L/P is now 2-3 on the season and Chatfield 3-1.

L/P will play NRHEG at 3:15 p.m. today.

Alden-Conger 79, Grand Meadow 46

The Knights were just too quick and too tenacious for the Superlarks.

They used a full-court trapping defense to cause havoc – GM committed four turnovers in its first four possessions for example – and pile up 29 first quarter points. After one quarter the Knights were up 18.

"We play an up-tempo game," Alden-Conger (5-0, 3-0 in the Gopher Conference) coach Paul Ragatz said. "We press and look for the fast break after an opponent’s miss or make.

"Our quickness is our strength. We have good senior leadership and some very good ball-handlers. We are going to be running for three days to win this title. We won it two years ago and want to win it this year."

The Gophers had 23 steals in the game. Tim Bruns who scored a game-high 19 points had seven steals, while Vinnie VanEnglenburg had six steals to go with 11 points.

Alden had a total of five guys in double figures in scoring. Aaron Evenson scored 16, Derek Thorson 10 and Peter Faugstad 10.

Ben Thorsen had the gutsiest performance for the Superlarks. He was still throwing his body all over the floor when the Superlarks trailed by more than 30. He scored a team-high 18 points.

Brian Gehling also reached double figures with 10.

"Ben’s play was a bright spot," Grand Meadow coach Steve Grinnell said, "but he made his share of mistakes like the rest of the team when we tried to break the press.

"We threw too many bad passes. We have no way to simulate that kind of pressure in a practice with limited numbers."

Grand Meadow is now 1-3 for the year. It will play at 5 p.m. today against Glenville-Emmons.

Southland 49, Glenville-Emmons 37

The Rebels weren’t spectacular, but played good, clean ball in their win over the Wolverines.

They played that kind of ball for assistant coach Reed Storey, who is in charge of the team this weekend. Southland head coach Greg Storey, Reed’s brother, is best man at a wedding in Arkansas.

Earlier in the year the Rebels beat the Wolverines by a single point.

"The difference between this game and the first is that we are much more polished now. We only had six turnovers today," coach Reed Storey said. "The key to the win was our advantage in the inside where we have to good big man. We also opened it up for them by hitting some threes. Matt Decker also did a good job defending against Josh Delger."

The two big man are Scott Schammel and Jessie Hamilton. Schammel had a game-high 15 points.

Hamilton scored a dozen with three straight baskets at the start of the second quarter. His first two scores put Southland up 14-5. G-E then scored five quick points before Hamilton banged in another one. At the half the Rebels were up 22-16.

G-E pulled to within three, 28-25, halfway through the third. But the Rebels pulled away when Josh Wilson and Pat Schneider hit back-to-back treys. At the end of the third the Rebels were up 41-29.

Rounding out the scoreboard for the Rebels was Decker with 10 and four players with one three-pointer apiece – Wilson, Schneider, Syd Schramm, and Gabe Peterson.

The Rebels improved their record to 4-1.