Prep Basketball Notebook: Loyola will honor 2003 state champions

Feb. 23—MANKATO — It's been 20 years since the undefeated Mankato Loyola boys basketball team won a state championship, but it seems like yesterday for former coach Dan Ireland.

"Time goes by so fast," he said. "It was very humbling to be part of that team. They had been to the state tournament the two years before that. Those kids were so good, you just had to point them in the right direction."

Loyola will honor the 2003 Class A championship team during Friday's nonconference home game against Sleepy Eye at Fitzgerald gym. Following the game, there will be a gathering at Loose Moose to celebrate the reunion and watch some old game film.

That team, which went 32-0, had three 1,000-point scorers: Truc Ho, Bret Brielmaier and Tyler Westman. Ho is the program's all-time scoring leader with 1,875 points, while Brielmaier is third at 1,754 and Westman is fourth at 1,663.

Westman was named the Class A boys player of the year in 2003, an honor that Brielmaier received the next season.

That team scored 2,487 points in the season, which ranked sixth in state history at the time. The Crusaders averaged 77.7 points and scored more than 100 points in four games. Loyola had a winning margin of 24.3 points per game and shot 53.8% from the field.

The team set a state record with 431 free throws made, which has since been passed.

Ireland said that Ho, Westman, Adam Nelson, Bryan Kuderer, Derick Price, Lee Miller, Matt Lynch, Trey Altenhofen, Jon Michaletz, Jay Steffl, Ryan Sullivan, Dan Gierut, John Miller and David Ireland will be attending the reunion, weather permitting. Brielmaier is coaching with the Orlando Magic and can't attend, and Trung Ho died in 2014.

"I can't wait to see those guys," Ireland said. "There are some guys I see a lot, but others I haven't seen in a long time. It's going to be nice to get together and reminisce with each other."

Schedule changes

The play-in games in the Section 2A girls tournament, originally scheduled for Thursday, have been moved back to Friday.

Mankato Loyola plays at Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton, Madelia plays at Martin County West and New Ulm Cathedral plays at Nicollet in the South Subsection.

In the North Subsection, Renville County West plays at Cedar Mountain.

The quarterfinal games are schedule for Tuesday.

Reger streak

Waseca senior Tyson Reger's shooting streak has ended.

Reger set a state record last week when he made 9 of 9 from 3-point range in a win against Sibley East. He was 12 of 12 from the field and 1 of 1 on free throws.

He followed that up on Friday by scoring 18 points in a win over Marshall, going 6 of 6 from the field, including 4 of 4 on 3-pointers, and 2 of 2 on free throws.

So that's 21 consecutive shots without a miss.

However, he missed his first shot attempt in Tuesday's game at Pine Island.

Section 2AA girls

The pairings for the Section 2AA girls tournament were released Wednesday, with quartefinal games scheduled for Tuesday.

In the South Subsection, top-seeded Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial will host Medford, No. 2 Waseca hosts Blue Earth Area, No. 3 New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva hosts Maple River and No. 4 Waterville-Elysian-Morristown hosts St. Clair.

In the North Subsection, No. 1 seed Southwest Christian gets a bye. No. 2 Glencoe-Silver Lake hosts Le Sueur-Henderson, No. 3 Norwood Young America hosts Sibley East and No. 4 Belle Plaine hosts Tri-City United.

Games to watch

The Mankato East girls are scheduled to play at St. Peter on Thursday, which will impact the Section 2AAA seedings. East (18-6), which has won eight straight games, is ranked second in the section by QRF, just a few points behind Jordan. St. Peter (18-6) is currently fourth, just a few points behind Marshall and a few points ahead of New Ulm. St. Peter's game with Marshall was postponed Tuesday.

On Friday, the Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial boys will play at Norwood Young America. The Knights (23-1) are battling for the top seed in the South Subsection of Section 2AA, while Norwood Young America (21-3) is the top team in the North Subsection.

The Maple River boys will host Hayfield (20-5) or Kenyon-Wanamingo (18-7) in the Gopher Conference championship game Saturday. The Eagles (23-2) are the West Division champions, while Friday's results will determine the East Division winner. Maple River defeated Kenyon-Wanamingo (62-53) and Hayfield (49-39) this season.

Follow Chad Courrier on Twitter @ChadCourrier.