Boys Basketball: With help, Cards take sole Central Lakes lead
Tribune Staff Report
WILLMAR — The Willmar Cardinals showed up for work Friday, punched in and never took a break as long as the clock ran.
Playing at a furious pace, the Cardinals stayed a step ahead of the Rocori Spartans all evening and then survived Nate Meyer’s 22-foot attempt to tie as the buzzer sounded.
Meyer’s shot over Willmar guards Dean Stier and Joe Lueze was on target but hit the rim and bounced away.
For a moment, Willmar celebrated like a playoff victory, and just as quickly lined up for the handshake.
The thrilling 57-54 victory kept Willmar in first place in the Central Lakes Conference. The loss shoved Rocori (6-3) a game back of Willmar (7-2). When Fergus Falls (5-5) upset the Tech Tigers (6-3) in St. Cloud 68-66 last night, Willmar assumed the top perch all alone.
Victories over the Spartans, anytime. are hard won.
Mo Mohamud, especially, worked a full shift (16 points, 6 rebounds 3 assists, 4 steals) when he was on the floor. The senior guard sank two free throws with 4 second showing to give Willmar a 3-point lead.
Rocori had trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half — 45-33 on Jimmy Unger’s 3-pointer at the 13:00 minute mark — but worked back to within a basket with just under two minutes left.
Willmar had missed 5 straight free throws when Austin Rambow sank a pair with 19 seconds left after a flagrant foul called with Rambow on a breakaway. He made both shots for a 55-51 lead but Willmar erred on the inbound play and Rocori’s 6-foot-6 junior center Jonah Eisenschenk pulled up and sank his third 3-pointer of the game to make it a 1-point game 55-54 with 5.7 seconds left.
Mac Mueller fouled Mohamud by snatching the back of his jersey. After he drained both attempts, Meyer dribbled over the time line on covered then pulled up approaching the right side of the arc. Meyer, who quarterbacked the Spartans to the Class 4A title, nearly sent the game to overtime.
Willmar took a 10-4 lead when Mohamud hit consecutive 3-pointers from the top of the key. Bob Brink, second winningest coach in state basketball, called his second time out of the first half after a Rambow deuce made it 21-12 at 8:30.
The Cardinals led 32-28 at halftime and 35-28 when Mohamud hit the last of his 4 treys.
But there was no shaking the Spartans, no less determined for the win and a sweep of the winter series. Eisenschenk, a third-year starter, was a force both inside and outside and Muller kept getting free on designed plays for uncontested lay-ups in the second half when he scored 9 of his 11 points. Meyer also got 11 points.
Unger and Rambow finished with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Coach Steve Grove rotated in 9 players effectively but the starting 5 of Stier, Unger, Mohamud, Rambow and Jeremy Olson, and Lueze, off the bench, got the majority of floor time.
“I’m the most proud of the effort,” said Grove. “We had lots of sets we tried to run but Rocori’s defense prevented it us from getting good looks. The baskets we got we just had to work for them by just being creative inside.”
Unger and Rambow combined for 17 rebounds Stier had 5 helpers. Willmar had 12 steals, not bad against a team like the Spartans.
Willmar 57, Rocori 54
Rocori (6-3, 10-6) 28 26 — 54
Willmar (7-2, 10-4) 32 25 — 57
ROCORI –21-49 FG (5-12 3-pt); 7-13 FT; 21 rebounds; 20 fouls … Scoring: Mac Mueller 11, Sam Moriarty 2, Nathan Meyer 11, Christian Pedroza 2, Nick Mies 5, Jonah Eisenschenk 23 … 3-point shots: Eisenschenk 3, Mies 1, Meyer 1
WILLMAR – 21-44 FG (8-17 3-pt); 7-15 FT; 26 rebounds; 13 fouls … Scoring: Joe Leuze 2, Jimmy Unger 17, Jeremy Olson 4, Mo Mohamud 16, Brandon Zuidema 2, Austin Rambow 13 … 3-point shots: Muhamud 4, Unger 3, Rambow 1 … Rebound leaders: Unger 8, Mohamed 6, Rambow 9 … Assist leaders: Dean Stier 5, Unger 4, Olson 3, Mohamed 3 … Steal leaders: Unger 4, Mohamed 4