The Wildcats tried to put the clamps on Jackson Loge but MACA had the tools to overcome. Loge cooled to ten points. Was he triple-teamed? The stance may have worked somewhat for the lower-seeded Wildcats. Yes, Loge put in far fewer points than when MACA ended the regular season vs. Sisseton. Loge was sensational with 35 points that night, but this no doubt served to get future opposing coaches really focused on trying to neutralize him.
The Tigers maneuvered so their offense continued most productive even with Loge scoring ten points. Tiernan led the adjusting with his reliable shooting eye. The sophomore scored the team-best 19 points. We led at halftime 38-24.
(Heads-up: The individual point totals on "Maxpreps" add up to 74 points, not 80, sorry. The MACA coaching staff has been supplying these numbers.)
Loge made five of his eight field goal attempts. He actually was only fourth best on the team's scoring list. We see Durgin Decker with a point output of 13. This sophomore made half his field goal tries. And senior Jaden Maanum put in 12 points on five of nine shooting. Tiernan is a sophomore - quite a sophomore group. And that group also includes Brandon Jergenson who scored seven points.
Then we see Cade Fehr (4), Cameron Koebernick (3), Brock Peterson (2), Bradley Rohloff (2) and Dalton Koehler (2).
Our team field goal shooting numbers were 28-for-45, 62 percent.
Tiernan nailed all five of his shots from three-point range. Decker made three of four long-rangers. Maanum and Jergenson each made one. As a team we were ten of 16 in 3's, 63 percent. Fehr nailed all four of his freethrow tries. Koehler made two freethrows while Maanum and Koebernick each made one. The Tigers made eight of eleven freethrows, 73 percent.
Loge had the team-best ten rebounds of our 24 total. All but one of his boards were defensive. Decker had six rebounds, two of which were offensive. Maanum had three rebounds and Fehr picked up two. The Tigers had five offensive boards, 19 defensive.
New London-Spicer's emphasis on Loge allowed this Tiger to perform nine assists. Jergenson and Tiernan each performed four. Decker and Tiernan each had two steals. Loge had our only blocked shot.
All in all the performance was consistent with the No. 2 seed. The Wildcats came here as the seventh seed. We got a preview in December when we beat the Wildcats 74-47. Minnewaska Area is the only team seeded higher than the Tigers in sub-section. Watch those Lakers! The Lakers have built their stock with a win over BOLD (with the Sagedahl boys) who was ranked No. 1 in state.
At present our Tigers own a 15-10 season record. Further playoff action is beckoning. So we'll see the 3AA-North semis unfold on Thursday, March 5. Yes we're into March now. High school sports teams and their fans have the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. I remember well what it's like over the years.
It looks like we have a couple high achievers in state wrestling: Ethan Lebrija and Dalton Rose, both in third at their respective weights.
Holleman gets new coaching position
Where does the time go? I remember when Jodi Holleman got the coaching reins for Hancock girls basketball. She stabilized things after the scandalous departure of her predecessor in Owl country. She put together a fine resume from her Hancock tenure, reaching great heights at times.
The next chapter was to move to Ridgewater College in Willmar. Jodi has coached the women's basketball team there for several years.
She is staying at the college level but now it's off to Fergus Falls. It's the home of the Spartans. The institution is called 'M' State Community and Technical College.
Holleman wraps up five years with the Warriors of Ridgewater, what was called Willmar Junior College back when I attended for two quarters. It was so long ago, I remember McDonald's coming to town! That was a big deal.
Jodi now has 20-plus years of hoops coaching under her belt. It makes me look in the mirror for more gray hair. Jodi's span with the Owls was 15 years. She was not totally content when she left the Hancock position.
At Hancock her teams won ten conference titles and got to state three times. She coached eight 1000-point career scorers with the Owls. Oh, and two ascended to 2000 points! Her overall record there was 277-107.
'M' State is looking to rejuvenate its women's hoops program. It was "on hiatus" this past winter. This suggests that Jodi will have an especially big challenge. Community colleges appear to be struggling with getting decent resources. Consider that Ridgewater has dropped its football program. Ridgewater women's basketball appeared to face an uphill battle in many of their games. Occasionally they got a beatable opponent and that was nice.
I worked with Jodi covering the Hancock team for a long time, would go out to her office at the UMM P.E. Center. The Hancock Record newspaper existed back then. I did sports for the Record for 15 years. I'm very proud of that facet of my career.
Holleman is the owner and coach of the West Central Wildcats. This is an AAU league that has grown impressively since its inception in 2012. Holleman got her undergraduate degree from MN State-Moorhead.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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