Full speed ahead: Blossoms start strong in another blowout victory
Published 9:06 pm Thursday, December 28, 2023
Blooming Prairie’s Gabe Staloch drives into the Grand Meadow defense during the Grand Meadow Tournament Thursday night. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Blooming Prairie’s Gabriel Hein dunks Thursday night against Grand Meadow during the Grand Meadow Tournament. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Grand Meadow’s Cohen Craft dumps a pass inside against Blooming Prairie Thursday night during the Grand Meadow Tournament. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Grand Meadow’s Carter Glynn works against Blooming Prairie’s Brady Kittelson Thursday night during the Grand Meadow Tournament. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Blooming Prairie’s Brady Kittelson goes past Carter Glynn during the Grand Meadow Tournament Thursday night. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Blooming Prairie’s Gabe Staloch drives into the Grand Meadow defense during the Grand Meadow Tournament Thursday night. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
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GRAND MEADOW – The Awesome Blossoms showed off their athleticism for one half, and then they put in cruise control as they grabbed their fifth 20-point or more win of the season when they beat Grand Meadow 90-48 Thursday night.
BP opened the game on a 32-3 run as its defensive pressure wreaked havoc in the backcourt. Junior guard Brady Kittelson collected most of his 15 points, six rebounds and seven steals in the first frame as the lead was 60-17 at halftime.
“Brady is such a great athlete and it’s tough for teams to dribble or pass around him,” BP head coach Cam Rutledge said. “He really is a menace on top of our zone.”
When he wasn’t swiping the ball in the backcourt, Kittleson ran from sideline to sideline for much of the first half as he provided constant pressure on GM’s ball handlers. It’s a role that he’s getting better with every game.
“I’m always moving around and you’ve got to be very active at the top of the defense,” Kittelson said. “I’ve got to be in the right spot and force them to the sidelines.”
Zack Hein added 13 points and seven steals for BP (7-0 overall) and freshman Gabe Staloch poured in 22 points as he hit four-three-pointers.
Staloch may be playing with older teammates, but he has held his own.
“My confidence is really high right now. Life is good,” Staloch said. “I think we knew coming into the season, but I don’t think anyone expected us to be this great right away. We just have to keep getting better. We have to play better defense and pass the ball better.”
Rutledge was happy to get his reserves on the court in the second half and he also stopped pressing, which gave BP a chance to work on its halfcourt approach.
“We haven’t really had a problem scoring the ball this year, but we’ve got to work on defense and moving the ball,” Rutledge said. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do and we’ll get back to it after the new year.”
Freshman Cohen Kraft led GM (0-8 overall) with 21 points as he connected on four three-pointers.
Blooming Prairie 60 30 – 90
Grand Meadow 17 31 – 48
BP scoring: Gabe Staloch, 22; Brady Kittelson, 15; Gabe Hein, 13; Kolby Vigeland, 7; Jacob Pauly, 7; Bradley Boyd, 6; Dylan Anderson, 5; Cooper Cooke, 2
GM scoring: Cohen Kraft, 21; Carter Glynn, 8; Tyler Reid, 5; Landon Ritter, 2; Malachi Young, 2; Blake Hubbard, 2; Sawyer Hanenberger, 2
