The Long Prairie-Grey Eagle Thunder found Minnewaska's Achilles' heel Tuesday night and exploited that weakness to upset the No. 3 ranked Lakers 49-44 in the Section 6AA-West championship.
Using a dominating zone defense, the Thunder took away the Lakers' inside game, holding them to just 29 percent from the field and stymieing Minnewaska's top scorer.
Shane Bosek, the Lakers' 6'5" senior forward and leading scorer at nearly 19 points per game, was held to just seven in the contest.
The other half of Minnewaska's powerful inside game, 6'5" senior forward Ben Peters, secured just four points. The two had eight and nine rebounds respectively.
Fellow senior Brady Johnsrud had 26 points for Minnewaska, the only Laker in double figures. Johnsrud has averaged nearly 17.5 points per game this season and was responsible for helping keep Minnewaska in the game though as he put in 15 of those points in the second half.
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Minnewaska and Long Prairie-Grey Eagle split their two meetings this season, with the Lakers winning the first contest 43-41, then falling 63-50 in the West Central inter-conference game just a week ago.
The Lakers finish their season with a 25-5 record. They will lose 11 seniors to graduation.
The Thunder advances to the Section 6AA championship Friday night at St. Cloud State University at 8 p.m. where they will face East division champion Melrose.
GAME STATISTICS
LONG PRAIRIE-GE 23 36 -- 49
MINNEWASKA 18 26 -- 44
LONG PRAIRIE-GREY EAGLE - Cody Sprenger 7, Duane Miller 14, Dylan Warner 11, Zach Miller 6, Jake Kingstrom 4, Mitch Branby 5, Stanley Harvey 2. Field goals 22-51, 3-pt 4-11, Free throws 9-13, Rebounds 33, Fouls 13.
MINNEWASKA - Shane Bosek 7, Brady Johnsrud 26, Andrew Ostrander 4, Blake Johnsrud 2, Ben Peters 4, Trenton Berg 1. Field goals 18-62, 3-pt 5-23 (Br. Johsrud 4, Bosek 1), Free throws 13-16, Rebounds 29 (Peters 9, Bosek 8), Assists 7 (Br. Johnsrud 3, Bl. Johnsrud 2), Steals 7 (Berg 2, Br. Johnsrud 2), Blocked shots 4 (Bosek 2, Peters 2), Fouls 15.
