Boys basketball: Superlarks use second half rally to get past Cardinals
Published 12:12 am Friday, January 15, 2016
LeRoy-Ostrander’s Trey Hungerholt drives past Grand Meadow’s Wes Ojulu in LeRoy Thursday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
LEROY —The Grand Meadow boys basketball team rebounded from a slow start to beat LeRoy-Ostrander 72-57 in LeRoy Thursday.
The Cardinals (2-12 overall, 2-7 SEC) came out shooting as they led by as many as five in the first half and LO held a 36-33 advantage at the break. GM (11-4 overall, 8-2 SEC) stepped up its defense in the second half as it was able to pull away late.
Grand Meadow’s Terrell Rieken pulls up for a shot at LeRoy-Ostrander Thursday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
“We got lost defensively a few times on their shooters,” GM head coach Bob Burmester said. “They had guys make shots that we didn’t think could and that kind of changed our strategy a little bit. We didn’t play as hard as we needed to in the first half and give LeRoy credit, they handled our pressure and they made shots.”
Michael Stejskal had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Superlarks and Reid Buschmann had 17 points and five rebounds. Buschmann, who was primarily a jump shooter last season, was able to get to the basket and score in the paint consistently.
“They came out and I believe they worked harder than us in the first half,” Buschmann said. “We had to play more team defense and start talking on screens.”
GM’s Terrell Rieken had 17 points, seven rebounds and five steals. He was able to get free for a couple of dunks in the win.
“Once we get [Rieken] to be consistent, he can be a very dominant force for us,” Burmester said. “But we have other guys too. Connor King is a utility guy who can play all five positions.”
The Cardinals start three freshmen, one sophomore and one senior and they rarely used their bench on Thursday. Trey Hungerholt led LO with 20 points.
LO head coach Trevor Carrier said his team is learning on the fly this season.
“We’re just a very young team,” Carrier said. “I thought we did a good job of forcing the action and playing our game. We want to space the floor and we want to shoot the ball.”
GM 33 39 — 72
LO 36 19 — 57
GM scoring: Michael Stejskal, 21; Reid Buschmann, 17; Terrell Rieken, 17; Connor King, 8; Mark Cotten, 8; Tyler Sloan, 2; Wes Ojulu, 2; free throws: 91 percent (10-for-11)
LeRoy-Ostrander’s Sean Lohuis attempts a shot against Grand Meadow in LeRoy Gym Thursday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
LO scoring: Trey Hungerholt, 20; Seth Royston, 14; Josh Royston, 11; Zach Hanson, 10; Sean Lohuis, 2; free throws: 75 percent (6-for-8)