Viking boys waltz to second win

It's hard to please Coach Dave Busselman.

Hey, his team won its second straight game in easy fashion, 74-43 over Tracy-Milroy-Balaton.

Yet, he said, "We turned the ball over too many times tying to make something happen."

Hard on his team — maybe not as hard as he is on himself.

"That's just me. I want them to be better. Is there anything wrong with that?" Busselman quizzed.

Granted, the Panthers didn't put up much of a fight — particularly with their best player Moses Dolan nursing a bloody nose the entire first half.

When the starting lineups were announced, Dolan was a "no show." Instead, Ryan Fogelson got the start and Dolan didn't appear until the second half — with a wad of cotton tucked into his nose.

Playing without Isaac Hennen, who was gone to prepare for Saturday's All-Star Football Game, and still without backup guard Sam Buysse, the Vikings were a bit short-handed.

"That's enough," Busselman joked. Well, he had enough. Despite a 7-0 lead, the Vikings had a somewhat cold start — yet found themselves leading 20-5 by the time the Panthers Jett Davis got their first field goal.

So maybe it wasn't a matter of results that bothered Busselman. More, perhaps, the "sloppiness" of what was happening on the floor.

"We were working hard on both sides of the floor (offense and defense)," the coach said.

Thomas Hennen sparked the Vikings with 23 points followed by Logan Sussner with 15, Jacob Hennen with 13, Nolan Boerboom with 12 and Jared Josephson with nine.

Most of that is expected.

But what has been a nice revelation is the inspired play of 6-3 sophomore Nolan Boerboom. A year ago he suffered from injuries, and, as the coach said, "The fact he didn't seem to figure out where his place was."

Well, he seems to have figured it out. Boerboom likes to shoot long range and hit three, three-pointers and three-of-three from the charity stripe.

"He's more confident now and in the flow. We've given him the green light," said the coach.

And Boerboom has responded. While he got two rebounds, he stole the ball twice and had a block.

"He's definately handled it all," said Coach Busselman.

Defensively, point guard Jared Josephson is giving the Vikings exactly what Busselman expected. Minneota is playing an "up-tempo" run-and-gun style of game and the coach said about Josephson, "That's his style of baskeball."

Josephson had a pair of steals and when Dolan did get in the game in the second half, held him to just four points.

There never was any concern that Thomas Hennen would "get in the flow" of the game. Friday he did, hitting a pair of three-pointers, scoring 23 points and grabbing a team-leading eight rebounds.

His ability to drive, shoot and score was aided by the fact center Logan Sussner was waiting around under the basket for the ball — and when Hennen couldn't score, he dished the ball to Sussner — had converted 15 points along with seven rebounds.

While the team will always miss a player like Isaac Hennen, whom the coach says is the "most athletic" player on the team — they easily found their way to another victory without the presence of Hennen.

Coming off the bench, Alex Saltzer collected five rebounds and bucket and Tristan Sorensen had three rebounds.

Really, not much for the coach to worry about so far.

They play at Granite Falls against Yellow Medicine East on Tuesday night.

Camden Conference scores from Friday night were:

Friday, December 8
Lakeview 70, Yellow Medicine East 33
Minneota 74, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 43
Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 70, Canby 23
MACCRAY 45, Central MN Christian 43
Dawson-Boyd 69, Kerkhoven-M-S 49
Renville Co. West 72, Lac qui Parle V. 44

Minneota 74, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 43
MINNEOTA (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Jared Josephson 3 1 0-0 3 9; Thomas Hennen 7 2 3-3 3 23; Logan Sussner 6 0 3-4 1 15; Jacob Hennen 5 1 0-0 3 13; Alex Saltzer 1 0 0-1 1 2; Grady Moorse 0 0 0-0 0 0; Tristan Sorensen 0 0 0-0 4 0; Nolan Boerboom 0 3 3-3 0 12; Mitchell Rost 0 0 0-0 2 0. Totals 22 7 9-11 17 74.
TRACY-M-B  (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Moses Dolan 1 0 2-3 0 4; Mike Munson 1 2 0-0 2 8; Cody Miller 0 1 1-2 1 4; Fritz Landherr 0 1 1-2 1 4; Rylan Fogelson 0 0 2-4 3 2; Matt Timmerman 2 0 2-2 5 5; Caleb Nordsiden 1 0 0-0 0 2; Jett Davis 3 0 6-8 4 12. Totals 8 4 22 16  43.
Score by Halves:
TMB            17    26    —    43
Minneota    42    32    —    74
Statistics:
SHOOTING: Minneota 29 of 61 fior 42 percent; TMB 12 of 48 for 25 percent.
FREE THROWS: Minneota 9 of 11 for 82 percent; TMB 6 of 8 for 75 percent.
REBOUNDS: Minneota 33 (Thomas Hennen 8, Sussner 7, Jacob Hennen 6, Saltzer 5, Sorensen 3, Boerboom 2, Rost 1.) TMB-30 (Davis, Fogelson 6 each, Landherr 4, Bo Holland 3; Muns0on, Moses 2 each; Miller, Timmerman 1 each).
TURNOVERS: Minneota 15; TMB 30.
STEALS: Minneota 12 (Thomas Hennen 3, Jacob Hennen, Josephson, Boerboom 2 each, Rost 1. TMB-Dolan 1.
BLOCKS: Minneota 3 (Boerboom, Thomas Hennen, Sussner 1 each). TMB-Landherr 1.
B SQUAD: Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 46, Minneota 31 (Vikings now 1-1 on the year).