Prep sports: Owatonna edges East boys with late layup
Feb. 19—The Free Press
MANKATO — Owatonna made a layup with 11 seconds remaining to defeat Mankato East 57-55 in a Big Nine Conference boys basketball game Thursday at the East gym.
B.J. Omot led East with 19 points, four rebounds and three steals, and Poulrah Gong had 11 points, four rebounds and four assists. T.J. Kueth had 11 points and four rebounds.
East (8-3) plays at Rochester Century on Tuesday.
St. Clair 89, Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons 41: Derek Zeldenrust and Mason Ward each had double-doubles in the Cyclones' Valley win at Alden.
Zeldenrust had 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Ward had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Max Hoosline scored 13 points, and Devin Embacher scored 11.
St. Clair (8-2) plays at Sibley East on Tuesday.
Southwest Christian 76, Le Sueuer-Henderson 57: The Giants cut a 30-point deficit to 10 in the second half, but Southwest Christian prevailed in the Minnesota River Conference win.
Nathan Gregersen led LSH with 22 points, while Lucas Graff had 15 and Gage Bishop had 14.
LSH (1-8) hosts Belle Plaine on Saturday.
Girls basketball
Nicollet/Loyola 69, Madelia 20: Josi Hansen had 14 points and six steals in the Raiders' Valley Conference win at Madelia.
Brooklyn Bode scored 10 points, and Marah Hulke added seven points, seven assists and five steals.
Nicollet/Loyola (6-5) plays Tuesday at Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain.
Martin County West 57, Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 20: Kari Matejka scored 19 points for Martin County West in the Valley Conference victory.
Mara Richardson led JWP (1-7) with eight points.
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 55, Cleveland 39: Olivia Harazin scored 25 points for the Knights in a Valley win at Cleveland.
Lexi Cloyd added 14 points for LCWM.
Halle McCabe led the Clippers with 12 points.
LCWM (10-1) plays at Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton on Tuesday.
Minnesota Valley Lutheran 61, Cedar Mountain 39: Abbie Riederer scored 30 points and made five assists as the Chargers won the Tomahawk Conference game at home.
Sam Dalueg added 11 points, Rylee Woller had five rebounds, and Kaylee Hunter made five steals.
MVL (8-3) plays at Wabbasso on Tuesday.
St. Peter 57, Blue Earth Area 37: Rhyan Holmgren led the Saints with 21 points in the Big South win.
Morgan Kelly added nine points for St. Peter.
Arika Howard led the Bucs with nine points.
Blue Earth Area will host Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Thursday.
Hockey
Mankato East/Loyola girls 3, Austin 2: Kailey Newton finished with two goals for the Cougars in the Big Nine Conference win at Austin.
Kalea Homich also scored for East/Loyola, while Sophie Steindl, Piper Guillemette, McKenzie Keller and Evey Johnson each had assists.
The Cougars (6-2-1) host Northfield on Saturday.
Mankato West boys 4, Rochester Century 1: Brandon Swenson scored twice for the Scarlets in a Big Nine win at All Seasons Arena.
Brady Hatkin and Tyler Tosch also scored for West, while Gavin Brunmeier had three assists. Wyant Fowlds added two assists.
Shots on goal favored Century 25-24. Caleb Cross made 24 saves for the Scarlets.
West (9-1-1) will host Fairbault on Tuesday.
Rochester Century 5, Mankato West girls 1: Emma Peterson scored for West in a Big Nine loss at Rochester.
Shots on goal favored Century 33-23.
West (2-10) will host Northfield Thursday.
Wrestling
East sweeps: Ten wrestlers went 2-0 as the Cougars swept a pair of Big Nine Conference matches at Austin. East defeated Austin 64-7 and Rochester Century 78-3.
East's double winners were Luke Scholtes (120), Easton Stangl (126), Ben Glogowski (138), Spencer Ruedy (145/152), Braeden Hendel (145/152), Elliot Stevens (160), Cael Willaert (170), Brian Thilges (182), Nate Drumm (220) and Rieley Fleming (285).
East (9-9, 7-6 in Big Nine) hosts Northfield and Maple River at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Northfield 63, Mankato West 16: Colten Landwer (195) and Gannon Rosenfeld (220) each won by fall for the Scarlets in a Big Nine loss at Northfield.
Damian Riewe won a 12-4 major decision at 145.
St. Peter 76, St. James Area 6: Evan Walter (120), Nakiye Mercado (126), Noah Hunt (132), Harold Born (138), Oziel Hildago (195) and Nathan Pettis (285) each won by fall as St. Peter claimed the Big South Conference victory.
Nathan Fogal (145) added a major decision for St. Peter.
St. James Area's only win came at 113, where Kollin Anderson won by fall.
St. Peter 54, New Ulm 24: New Ulm won the first two matches, but the Saints came back for the Big South victory.
Evan Walter (120), Noah Hunt (132), Harold Born (138), Brogan Hanson (152), Cole Filand (182), Leighton Robb (195) and Jaden Drill (285) each won by fall for the Saints.
Nakiye Mercardo (126) had a major decision, and Nathan Fogal (145) won a decision.
For New Ulm, Parker Kamm (106) and Logan Lee (113) each won by fall.
St. Clair/Loyola splits: Simon Kruse (106), Eli Kruse (113), Hunter McCann (120) and Jack Klinder (152) each won twice for the Spartans.
St. Clair/Loyola defeated Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 39-27 and lost to Westfield 33-23. Westfield defeated WEMJWP 63-12.
Swimming
Mankato East/Loyola 92, Faribault 70: Dave Wedzina and Logan Gustafson each won four events to help the Cougars win the Big Nine virtual meet at the East pool.
Wedzina won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:10.04 and 100 breaststroke in 1:03.60, and Gustafson took first in the 100 freestyle in 52.69 and 100 backstroke in 59.07.
Wedzina and Gustafson joined with Jordan Hogue and Elliot Bartell to win the 200 medley relay in 1:45.87, and Jack Slunecka, Hogue, Wedzina and Gustafson teamed up to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:38.81.
Bartell also won the 100 butterfly in 58.12, and he, Nick Brauer, Isaac Luethmers and Slunecka won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:41.04.
Slunecka won the 200 freestyle in 2:01.17, and Luethmers took first in the 500 freestyle in 5:41.00. Cole Javens won the diving with 189.7 points.
Northfield 99, Mankato West 79: Charlie Simpson won the 50 freestyle by just .07 seconds in the Scarlets' Big Nine loss.
Simpson took first in 23.44. Simpson, Brandon Whitney, Connor Berger and Ethan Bartell won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:35.46.
Berger won the 200 freestyle in 2:01.91, as did Hayden maxwell in the 100 breatstroke in 1:10.44. Carson Deichman took first in the diving with 177.0 points.
