Boys' basketball: Osakis struggles with Swanville, West Central defeats Eagle Valley

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The Osakis boys’ basketball team couldn’t dig itself out of an early hole despite a strong second half last Thursday night.

The Silverstreaks put up 41 points after halftime but Swanville’s 33-17 lead at the break held up in a 68-58 game.

“We jumped out to an early lead,” head coach Matt Hoelscher said. “But then Swanville put on some full court pressure and we struggled with it. We also had some foul trouble in the first half and you combine that with turnovers, and we had dug ourselves into a deep hole.”

Osakis tried to dig its way out of that behind three different players in double figures. Kilar Zimmel put together his second straight all-around game with 15 points, six rebounds and four steals. Doug Zimmel led the team in scoring with 19 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the three-point line. He added a team-leading seven rebounds, while Drew Fearing finished with 14 points, five rebounds and seven steals.

“We came out with a lot of energy in the second half,” Hoelscher said. “We created turnovers and started hitting shots from the outside, and we got to the free throw line. The hole we dug in the first half was just too deep to climb out of.”

Swanville had hit five three pointers during a win over Brandon-Evansville two nights earlier. The Bulldogs didn’t need those shots from the outside on Thursday as they converted a lot of high-percentage shots in transition and off offensive rebounds.

GAME STATISTICS

OSAKIS 17 41 – 58

SWANVILLE 33 35 – 68

TOTALS – Osakis – Field goals – 18-49; Three-point field goals – 6-15; Free throws – 16-30; Assists – 8; Blocks – 1; Rebounds – 26; Steals – 12; Turnovers – 24

OSAKIS – Lane Berberich – 6 points, 1 assist, 1 rebound; K. Zimmel – 15 points, 1 assist, 6 rebounds, 4 steals; Brandon Giesler – 1 point, 2 rebounds; Fearing – 14 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, 7 steals; Joey Kotek – 1 point, 1 rebound; John Piekarski – 3 rebounds; D. Zimmel – 19 points, 2 assists, 1 block, 7 rebounds, 1 steal

KNIGHTS DOWN REBELS

The West Central Area boys’ basketball team controlled things in almost every statistical category in an 80-42 win over Eagle Valley last Thursday night.

The Knights shot 45 percent overall and hit 7-of-16 three pointers to run away with things early. They led 41-22 at the break and finished with five players in double figures.

“We had a lot of assisted baskets as we played very unselfish,” head coach Kraig Hunter said. “We were pleased with how the kids worked and hustled on the defensive end. A hats off to Alex Toms, who defended Luke Mock and held him to 10 points and every one of those points was hard earned.”

Senior Drew Peterson had a near triple-double with 17 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and six steals. Dakotah Kashmark added 16 points. Brady Combs finished with 15 and Austin Redepenning and Jay Zimmerman each poured in 12. Logan Riedel had a team-high 18 points and 10 rebounds for Eagle Valley.

“We knew they have some good starters but were not deep,” Hunter said. “We were able to keep the game up-tempo and wear them down throughout the game.”

GAME STATISTICS

WCA 41 39 – 80

EAGLE VALLEY 22 20 – 42

TOTALS – WCA – FG – 35-66; Three-point FG – 7-16; Free throws – 3-6; Rebounds – 35; Turnovers – 10; Eagle Valley – FG – 16-54; Three-point field goals – 3-15; Free throws – 7-10; Rebounds – 27; Turnovers – 20

WCA – Peterson – 17 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 6 steals; Kashmark – 16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists; Combs – 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals; Redepenning – 12 points; Zimmerman – 12 points, 10 rebounds; Alex Toms – 4 points; Hunter Pfingsten – 2 points; Devin Nelson – 2 points

EAGLE VALLEY – Riedel – 18 points, 10 rebounds; Skylar Meiners – 11 points; Mock – 10 points, 4 assists; Dominick Bailey – 3 points

Tags: osakis sports, west central area sports, sports, silverstreaks, boys, basketball, knights