After falling 71-54 to New Ulm Cathedral on December 21, the varsity Clippers did what they were supposed to do when they downed Immanuel Lutheran 69-55 two days later. Both games were in the Cleveland gym.
Knowing the Clippers would be the favorite over IL, head coach Mike Meyer used the 40 minutes to work on skills, but that wasn’t his key objective.
“We got to install a few things a little more that we have been running in practice, but the main focus was for my team to come out and play like a winning team.”
IL scored the first two baskets. Brennan Kortuem’s three got the Clippers on the board. En route to 17 points on the night, he followed up with a baseline drive for a basket, and Blake Lyons took a handoff from his brother Carson Lyons up and in, and the Clippers led 7-6.
“I thought we got off to a slow start,” Meyer said. “We were a little sluggish. But that team (IL) always fights. They never got out of it. I was never comfortable until maybe a minute and a half left.”
With two free throws, Immanuel took the lead, but the Clippers went on a 15-point run that started when Blake Lyons took a Jorden Rossow toss up for a bucket.
Carter Barto spun for the first two of his total 17 points, and Carson Lyons drove the lane for a basket. Barto iced a pair of free shots, and Bode Bartell airmailed a three. Kortuem scored inside, and Kyle Connor made a bucket from under the rim for a 22-9 Clipper advantage.
Kortuem added a dozen more points in the second half with six of them coming from behind the arc. IL mostly kept up though, only slipping one more point.
“I would have loved to win by a lot more than that,” Meyer said. “I would have liked to see more things go our way. I would have liked to hit more shots, but the main thing, it’s still a win for us.”
With the bench clearing down the stretch, the game was a good opportunity for nonstarters to play alongside teammates they practice with,” Meyer said.
“A lot of our players who typically don’t get a lot of minutes really played well, Kale Kelley especially. He is still a leader for us; he still is a captain, but tonight he took every opportunity to show he can still be on the court.”
Meyer said ILs main five guys, especially their four seniors, are some pretty good ball players. With 28 points, Jaxon Libby led Immanuel’s effort.
“That’s two games in a row letting someone put almost 30 on us, and I don’t really like that. We have to play a little bit better on the ball. Our biggest focus in the past two years is to get better on our man-to-man defense. I thought tonight was a good chance to work on that, and, although we didn’t execute as well as I would have liked, it was still a good learning opportunity.”
Nine of Kortuem’s points came from three-point land. Blake Lyons had nine points while Carson Lyons contributed eight points. Connor also had eight points, six of them from the foul line. Bartell made a three and a pair of twos for seven points. Rossow put in a basket. Kelley made a free throw late in the game.
The Clippers totaled four threes and were 15 of 22 from the foul line. Lutheran had six threes and were 11 of 16 in free throws.
NUC 71, Cleveland 54
Cathedral scored the first four points. Connor’s basket put the Clippers on the scoreboard, but the Greyhounds spurted for five more points before Gabe Sullivan’s basket stopped the rally.
After Kortuem sunk a three, Barto went to work for nine of the next 10 Clipper points, and Bartell launched a three from the corner that dropped through the net to put the Clippers within one, 21-20.
Carson Lyons followed with a three, and Barto scored his fifth bucket of the half, but Cathedral led 31-26 at halftime.
Blake Lyons rallied for three-straight Clipper baskets early in the second half and brother Carson followed up with another three, but the Greyhounds kept the pressure on with 12-points from behind the arc. Bartell parked a pair of threes to close out the Clipper scoring while Cathedral made nine free throws to hold their lead.
With 15 points, Barto led the effort. Bartell’s nine points all came from three-point land. Kortuem had eight points, and the Lyons brothers each added seven points. Connor and Sullivan each tossed in a basket.
The Clippers made six threes and were successful in eight of 10 free-throw attempts. NUC had four threes and was 17 of 28 in free throw shooting.
The Clippers will start the new year on Tuesday when they face visiting Lester Prairie. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.
Above: Brady Bostic sets up to pass from the top of the key.
Bode Bartell runs hard at the basket during the game vs IL.
Gabe Sullivan leans into an IL defender.
Kale Kelley extends for a shot with IL defenders beside him.
Kyle Connor takes the ball into the lane.
Carson Lyons eyes the net.
Carter Barto stretches for a shot.
Jordan Rossow takes the ball over the foul line.
Carson Lyons flips a pass over a NUC defender.
Blake Lyons leaps for a pass as a Cathedral defender moves in.
Carter Barto slips inside as a NUC defender gets into position.
Brennan Kortuem dishes off as he confronts a NUC defender.
Ava Hahn, Greta Hahn and Chloe Anderson donned merry apparel for the IL game. In between are Jorden Rossow and Nathan Strobel.
Instead of ugly sweaters, some of the Clippers poked fun at coach Carter Kopet before the IL game. They are, from L-R, Brennan Kortuem, Bode Bartell, Carson Lyons, Carter Barto, Kyle Connor, Gabe Sullivan, Jorden Rossow, Brady Bostic, Blake Lyons and Kale Kelley.