With starters ranging incrementally from 6-0 to 6-9, the Le Sueur-Henderson varsity boys aren’t called the Giants for nothing, and they used their towering height for a 75-49 victory over the Clippers on Friday (January 2).
While the Clippers never waved the white flag, had they shot better from outside, it might have been a closer game, but instead they were five of 26 from three-point range.
“We typically shoot better than that, but when you’re playing full-court press the entire time and trying to push the ball up the floor, you don’t have the legs under you,” said head coach Mike Meyer. “I don’t spend all practice running my guys. We try to rep concepts, but if we did, we’d be in better shape. We’d be able to take those shots. It’s a give and take, but I’m not going to change what we do in practice to prep for a team that has four 6-5 plus guys. That’s nothing you see very often.”
But overall, Meyer said his team played well.
“The score doesn’t look like we played well, but that’s a size disadvantage we haven’t faced yet. We haven’t repped it in practice. We have no way to rep against that.”
The Giants led 43-30 at the half.
“If we’re going to play teams like that in the future, we’re going to have to push the ball really well,” Meyer said. “I thought we started out moving the ball up the floor, and we played aggressive, solid defense too. I think there is a lot to learn from this game, but I wouldn’t take away from the way that we played just because the scoreboard says so.”
With 13 points, Brennan Kortuem led the Clippers. He now needs just 22 points for a career 1000 points.
Kale Kelley (above) had 12 points.
“It was an outstanding effort by Kale all the way around,” Meyer said. “He really played his heart out.”
Carson Lyons had nine points, Braeden Smith had five points, and Kyle Connor had four points. Alex Kortuem had three points, Bode Bartell had two points, and Alex Johnson had one point.
Lyons, both Kortuems, Smith and Kelley all put in one three. The Clippers made six of 13 shots from the foul line. The Giants made six threes and nine of 14 free throws.
Meyer said the Clippers shot the worst they have all season.
Lyons had five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Bartell had eight rebounds, three assist and one steal. Korteum had seven rebounds, one assist and two steals. Connor had two rebounds. Kelley had four rebounds and two assists.
Smith had two rebounds and one steal. Johnson had six rebounds and one steal. Mason Kluntz had one rebound. Tanner Simonette had one rebound and one steal. Gavin Karels had one rebound and one steal.
The Clippers suffered 27 turnovers, six more than the Giants, but, despite the height difference, outrebounded the Giants 39-37.
“We went guard heavy when they had in bigs, but then they would just sub in some smaller guys,” Meyer said.
The Clippers return to action on Friday when they travel to Sherburn to take on Martin County West. In the Valley Conference, the Mavericks edged GHEC/T/ML by two points, beat Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons 71-51, lost to Madelia 67-60 and lost to Nicollet 66-63.
