MACA took care of business Saturday night at home in boys hoops. We took care of business as the No. 1 seed. This was done with a 65-57 win over the New London-Spicer Wildcats, No. 5. To remind, we're in Section 3AA-North.
The game was a pretty typical superior performance by the Tigers. Home fans enjoyed the success. We'll be staying at home for the next round of action. Now we'll face No. 2-seeded Redwood Valley for the North championship at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Tigers faced Redwood back on Jan. 26 and won by three, 63-60.
Right now the orange and black has a won-lost of 17-2. New London-Spicer closes out at 9-11.
The Wildcats were pretty competitive Saturday. Our lead was just one at halftime, 30-29. The tight complexion remained for much of the second half.
We opened up some breathing room with under five minutes left. The lead was narrowed some but we hung on for the eight-point margin. Redwood Valley advanced with a 74-64 win over Paynesville. Fortunately Paynesville was not derailed by Covid the way their girls team was (along with Minnewaska). Ah, "protocol." You can't fight the government.
"Another day at the office" I guess for Tiger Jackson Loge. I seem to recall his father having lots of those. Loge poured in a team-best 25 points. He made 11 of 17 field goal attempts. Thomas Tiernan was the other main cog in our attack - he scored 17 points on five of nine in field goals. Brandon Jergenson put in nine points and Toby Gonnerman eight, then we see Durgin Decker with four and Riley Reimers with two.
As a team we shot 27 of 40 for 68 percent. Tiernan put up our only 3-point attempts and he was one of three. Tiernan made six of eight in freethrows. Loge put in three freethrows and Jergenson one. We were 53 percent at the freethrow line. Decker worked to the top of the rebounding list. He had nine rebounds followed by Loge with eight. The Tigers collected 27 rebounds with four being offensive.
Loge set the pace in assists with five. Jergenson and Tiernan each dished out three assists. The steals category saw Jergenson and Tiernan as tops, each with three. We had 16 turnovers. Loge blocked two shots.
NL-Spicer came at us with three big guns: Brycen Christensen and Peyton Coahran each with 16 points and Jaden Zylstra with 15. Six players total scored for the Wildcats. Wolzen Holland scored five points, Tyler Danielson three and Aedan Andresen two.
NL-Spicer was pretty sharp with 3's where they had Coahran make five, Christensen four and Holland one. Christensen with his seven rebounds led there. Danielson with his six assists led there. Steal leaders were Danielson and Holland each with four. Christensen and Luke Wosmek each blocked a shot.
Wrestling: two Tigers to state
The state wrestling tournament is always quite the spectacle. We're pleased to report that two Tigers have passed the test for 2021. Vying at Redwood Falls, Davin Rose was No. 1 at 132 pounds in the Section 2AA/3AA super sections. I hope I have the terminology right.
Rose's last obstacle was Austin Gabbert of Watertown-Mayer Lutheran. Rose took it to the Lutheran in a 6-2 decision. Don't be too hard on us Lutherans.
Our Ethan Lebrija was No. 2 at 126 pounds and is thus in for state. Dallas Walton placed fourth at 113 pounds.
I guess the Class 2A state tournament will be in St. Michael. When I was a newspaper writer, the whole state event was in St. Paul and it was a superb state showcase. I covered events at the old St. Paul Civic Center including at least one state wrestling event. I go back to the days of Bryan Wetz as a Tiger wrestler. Yes, I even remember how to spell the name "Bryan" whereas my way is the "right" way, "Brian," just kidding. All those years with Al Hendrickson as coach - what memories. Al Hendrickson RIP.
Media notes
I am blown away by the quality of the TV/YouTube telecasts of Tiger hoops. We must pay attention to both TV and YouTube because a lot of us could be losing our TV because of the decision by Federated. So last night I found the hoops game live on YouTube. I actually didn't have to look for it. It was "fed" or recommended for me. I guess that's called algorithms (and it's "rithm" not "rhythm").
This is a big plus of the Internet of today compared with long-ago times. Long ago you'd try referring someone to something online and they'd get furrowed brow and ask "how do you find it?" Today's Internet comes close to downright reading our minds. So I picked up on YouTube's referral and watched most of the first half.
The quality of these productions is phenomenal. The next step will be to zoom in a little closer on the action, so that we won't notice any difference from the big-time ESPN telecasts. We see graphics, replays, all the bells and whistles now. I couldn't be more impressed. If it is easily accessible through YouTube, we night not care any more about the public access cable channel (the "Wayne's World" channel).
Will TV become passe? Maybe. I need to make a decision soon on whether to even keep my Federated cable TV much longer. It was very disappointing to get the news of Federated's decision. I would be very relieved not having Fox News in my home anymore. No more Jeanine Pirro.
The Morris newspaper appears not interested in supplying timely or dependable sports information on its website. The radio station is much more helpful with its site. What will be the repercussions for the radio station if more and more Tiger sports is consumed through YouTube? Can the radio station sell sponsorships as easily?
I greatly appreciate any and all readers who come to my two blogs to check for Tiger news. I hope you all know I have two sites or blogs. I created the second so that I'd have an extra outlet for non-sports posts during hectic sports times. Sometimes I choose to put Tiger sports posts on the secondary site, "Morris of Course," which really isn't so secondary any more.
I will always be delighted feeling as though I can still be part of the Tiger scene. Sometimes I have opinions. Do you suppose it's time that someone else gets a shot at coaching the MACA girls basketball team?
My podcast on this Sunday
It is Sunday, March 21, as Easter nears. Christians must grapple with an internal matter: the reach of the "evangelicals" who have become so intertwined with Trump-ism. I invite you to call up my "Morris Mojo" podcast for today and hear some thoughts from beautiful Northridge Drive, Morris MN.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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