Sports Editor
Champlin Park 82, Warriors 63 Mark Tuchscherer almost looked out of place.
The 1998 Brainerd High School graduate, and former Warrior boys' basketball standout, was patrolling the opposite sideline Friday as head coach of the Champlin Park Rebels, who scored an 82-63 victory that kept the Warriors winless.
"It was different," Tuchscherer said of being on the opposing sideline. "It was hard not to think about it. You try not to but it was different to see a bunch of old coaches and mentors and talk to them before the game. It was a good time."
Leading 35-34 at the half the Rebels shot 63.6 percent (21 of 33) in the second half and outscored Brainerd 47-29.
Champlin Park buried five of its nine threes in the second half but also scored on fast breaks and in the paint. In the first three minutes of the second Brainerd turned the ball over three times and the Rebels soared ahead 52-41. Brainerd was never closer than eight the rest of the way.
Jasper Duberry
The Rebels had outstanding balance as Jasper Duberry scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, Josh Pella had 11 of his 15 in the first, D'Andre Williamson scored 12 of his 13 in the second and Ty Munneke had nine in each half.
Scott Theisen, who entered the game as the Rebels' leading scorer with a 17.3 average, was held to four points.
"We didn't shoot the ball well the first half," Tuchscherer said. "We really don't have much of an inside game. We're not very big but we're pretty crafty inside.
"They kind of took away (Kyle) Zimmerman in the post but we were able to hit some shots. Our main shooter (Theisen) wasn't hitting but our second-best shooter (Munneke) was doing just fine."
Tyler Munneke
Warriors coach Matt Urbanek shuffled his lineup, giving senior Mike Gervenak and junior Joel Martin their first starts. Gervenak responded with 10 points and Martin with 12.
"We had some guys who were given their first opportunity to get significant minutes and took advantage of it," Urbanek said. "They played hard, they played defense, they played unselfishly, set the tone and set a great example for the rest of our team."
Brainerd shot 48.4 percent in the first half, which was tied six times. The Warriors overcame a 16-7 deficit with a 10-point run that put them ahead 17-16. The teams virtually traded baskets until the intermission.
The Warriors made just 30 percent (9 of 30) of their shots in the second and finished with 21 turnovers.
Kyle Crocker led Brainerd with 16 points. Ben Gervais came off the bench to add 10.
"A couple things have been our Achilles heel this year," Urbanek said. "One of them has been turnovers. We had times tonight where we did a lot better than that, we had times where we struggled with that. That's something we've been talking a lot about and working on. That's something we need to do a better job of if we're going to be a good team.
"The second thing is shot selection and sharing the ball. That's been our second Achilles heel. We've talked a lot about that too. I thought we made some progress in that area. I thought we had a lot more chemistry tonight and I thought we shared the ball a lot better."
The loss dropped Brainerd to 0-5 overall.
"It's a long season," Urbanek said. "It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. We have a long way to go. We've played five games. We have 20 games to go in our regular season. We have not seen the results in the win-loss column, but we saw progress. We have to keep that in mind."
Champlin Park 35 47 - 82
Brainerd 34 29 - 63
CHAMPLIN PARK
Jasper Duberry 18, Josh Pella 15, D'Andre Williamson 13, Scott Theisen 4,
Kyle Zimmerman 8, Tyler Munneke 18, Dillon Hager 3, Jordan Reibling 3. FG 34-65. FT 5-8. 3-point baskets: 9 (
Duberry 2, Pella, Munneke 4, Hager, Reibling). Turnovers: 9.
BRAINERD
Mike Gervenak 10, Kyle Crocker 16, Joel Martin 12, Aaron Pavek 9, Garth Askegaard 4, Ben Gervais 10, Sam Feyder 2. FG 24-61. FT 8-11. 3-point baskets: 7 (Gervenak 2, Crocker, Martin 2, Gervais 2). Turnovers: 21.
MIKE BIALKA may be reached at mike.bialka@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5861.
Posts
