Slow and steady the Spirit Lake boys basketball team pulled away from Estherville-Lincoln Central on Tuesday, eventually taking a one-sided 56-33 victory. The Indians won the second quarter by nine to take a thirteen point lead at the half. Paul Brown busted out for a season-high 19 points, hitting two 3-pointers on the way. Sawyer Harms contributed ten points despite foul trouble. The Midgets top scorer was Tyler Swanson, who connected three times from outside and finished with 15 points. ELC falls to 3-7 this season and 1-5 in conference play, with a non-conference home game against Pocahontas Area/Pomeroy-Palmer set for Thursday. Spirit Lake jumps to 5-3 on the season and 3-2 in the Lakes Conference. A trip to Emmetsburg comes on Friday and that game will be live on KUOO Campus Radio.
Click here for the postgame interview with Spirit Lake’s Sawyer Harms and coach Nate Loenser.
The rest of the Lakes Conference slate saw Emmetsburg lose for the fifth time in six games, all by eight points or less, in dropping a 56-53 ballgame at Western Christian. Storm Lake finished on top of Spencer, 64-53. League-leader LeMars routed Cherokee, 61-36.
After one game, 2012 seems very similar to 2011 for the Harris-Lake Park boys basketball team, with the Wolves making light work of rival Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire, 73-37. HLP led 23-4 after the first eight minutes. Eli Ihnen poured in 23 points to lead all scorers, with Brady Nissen reaching 17 points and Colin Brons eleven. The Knights were paced by Colin Leiting’s eleven points and Austin Dyer’s ten. GT/RA has a 1-7 record overall and is now 1-4 in the league. They travel to Laurens-Marathon for a non-league game on Thursday. The eighth-ranked Wolves remain undefeated through nine games, with four wins counting as league wins. Next up is George-Little Rock on Thursday in a non-conference contest.
Click here for the postgame interview with HLP coach Jeff Sohn.
One other Cornbelt Conference game resulted in a 58-50 win for North Sentral Kossuth/Armstrong-Ringsted against West Bend-Mallard.
In the Siouxland Conference, second-ranked MOC-Floyd Valley more than doubled-up Okoboji, dropping the Pioneers by a 66-23 margin. Okoboji trailed 22-9 through the first eight minutes. Keith Oskvig settled in as the leading scorer with nine points. The Pioneers are 0-10 this winter and 0-8 in the league. Sibley-Ocheyedan will visit Milford on Friday, and that matchup can be heard on Q102.
Click here for comments from Okoboji coach Ryan Paulsen.
The rest of the schedule had Boyden-Hull taking down the Generals, 60-42. Sheldon nipped West Lyon, 60-55. Sioux Center pounded on Rock Valley, 85-33. Central Lyon took a seven-point win over George-Little Rock, 58-51.
In other games last night, South O’Brien went to overtime to defeat Sioux Central, 62-56, in a non-conference contest.
North of the border, Jackson County Central suffered another setback, a 64-55 loss to Windom. Round Lake-Brewster had few answers against Southwest Minnesota Christian, falling 82-25, and Southwest Star Concept defeated Martin Luther, 57-49. Worthington dominated Pipestone, 84-58.
