Boys' basketball: Ashby's depth wears down Brandon-Evansville

• Schaffer

Senior guard Pat Schaffer pulled up for a jumper near the free throw line in a game earlier this season. Schaffer had a career night against Ashby as he finished with 16 points, five rebounds and six assists. (Eric Morken, Echo Press)

Talk about it

The Brandon-Evansville boys’ basketball team has made obvious strides since the beginning of the season, but it wasn’t enough to hold off a talented Ashby team on Tuesday night.

The Arrows built a 15-point lead at the break and held on for a 65-54 win, despite the best efforts of the Chargers’ John Haseman. The senior forward scored 18 of his game-high 27 points in the second half before a Brandon-Evansville rally came up short.

“I thought we played a really good game defensively the first half, especially containing John,” Ashby head coach Jeremy Knick said. “Defensively, that was one of the better halves we played, and we executed a good game plan. Late in the second half, we lost our focus and intensity and didn’t close the game out the way we should have.”

The Chargers were forced to shoot a lot of threes in the first half as a result of Ashby clogging the lane. Of the 21 shots Brandon-Evansville took before the break, 12 of them came from behind the arc.

“We have one of the best post players around,” Chargers’ head coach John Holsten said. “So why we took more threes than twos in the half is kind of a mystery to me. But it was a result of Ashby’s defense. They played very well and really focused on John in that first half.”

The Chargers were more efficient from behind the three-point line in the second half. They went 4-of-8 from deep over the final 18 minutes to finish 6-of-20 overall.

Pat Schaffer added to Haseman’s big night by putting together what Holsten called the best game of his career. Schaffer had the second highest point total of the game after pouring in 16. He added five rebounds, one steal and six assists to his line.

“It was kind of a breakthrough game for him,” Holsten said. “He found out there are ways to utilize his skills and keep everybody else involved as well.”

Ashby just had too much depth for the Chargers to keep up with. The Arrows finished with three players in double figures as Blake Ohren led the way with 12 points and seven rebounds. J.P. Moe added 11 points and eight boards. Dylan Barry chipped in 10 points, while Tanner Langlie finished with eight points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

“They have skilled athletes,” Holsten said of the Arrows. “They are skilled basketball players. They had good, balanced scoring. That’s pretty good for a high school team.”

It helped keep the Arrows unbeaten on the season. They moved to 6-0, while the Chargers dropped to 2-4 and 2-1 in the Little Eight Conference.

GAME STATISTICS

ASHBY 32 33 – 65

B-E 17 37 – 54

TOTALS – B-E – FG – 21-53; Three-point FG – 6-20; Free throws – 6-8; Rebounds – 25; Turnovers – 13; Ashby – FG – 26-51; Three-point FG – 6-15; Rebounds – 32

B-E – Blake Satterlie – 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals; Schaffer – 16 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 6 assists; Mitch Anderson – 3 points, 1 rebound; Haseman – 27 points, 12 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 assists; John Huisman – 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 assists; Billie Juul – 1 assist; James Huisman – 2 steals, 2 assists

ASHBY – Ohren – 12 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks; Moe – 11 points, 8 rebounds; Barry – 10 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists; Langlie – 8 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists; Zach Barry – 7 points; Jeff Berglund – 6 points, 3 rebounds; Gage Olson – 4 points, 4 assists, 2 steals; Morgan Wing – 4 points; Evan Anderson – 3 points

ASHBY WINS LEC OPENER

Coming back from a 33-27 halftime deficit, the Ashby Arrows increased their offensive power, scoring 44 points en route to a 71-65 victory over Parkers Prairie last Thursday night.

The Arrows found themselves down 12-0 to open the game, but slowly worked their way back in to contention with J.P. Moe putting Ashby ahead for the first time on a three-point shot, making the score 44-41.

“This was a good Little Eight Conference game and Parkers Prairie came ready to play,” said Ashby head coach Jeremy Knick. “I thought the Panthers had the edge tonight. They outplayed us a good chunk of this game. They had the energy on defense and they made good decisions on offense.

“They were simply out-hustling us and out-rebounding us and, honestly, our intensity on defense overall on the night was rather low.

“It wasn’t until later in the game when we decided to step it up on both ends of the floor,” he added. “We were able to turn the momentum in our favor with some stops on defense and some big shots on offense.”

Moe led the Arrows with 32 points, adding two assists and three steals; Blake Ohren added 14 points and Dylan Barry 10.

The Arrows hosted Ashby last night, Tuesday, and will host Hancock Friday night.

Parkers Prairie was at the Verndale tournament Monday and yesterday, Tuesday, at are at Hillcrest tomorrow, Thursday.

ASHBY 71, PARKERS PRAIRIE 65

ASHBY 27 44 — 71

PARKERS PRAIRIE 33 32 — 65

ASHBY – JP Moe 32, Blake Ohren 14, Dylan Barry 10, Tanner Langlie 8, gage Olson 4, Morgan Wing 2, Jeff Berglund 2. Assists – Moe 2, Ohren 8, Barry 5, Langlie 3, Olson 3. Steals – Moe 3, Barry 2, Langlie 4. Rebounds – Ohren 5, Langlie 7, Olson 7. Blocked shots – Ohren 4.

Tags: ashby sports, brandon evansville sports, sports, arrows, chargers, boys, basketball