Jumping into the race
Josh Berhow, The Kenyon Leader
The Kenyon-Wanamingo boys basketball team’s shooting stayed hot and its rebounding was just as good as the Knights pulled off two big Hiawatha Valley League-Blue wins against Cannon Falls and Lake City last week.
The Knights beat Cannon Falls 58-53 on Jan. 17 and then topped Lake City 70-66 on Friday.
Entering last week the Bombers and Tigers were first and second, respectively, in the conference standings, and after the two key wins the Knights are now tied with Cannon Falls at the top of the conference with 4-1 records midway through the season.
“I thought our guys played the underdog role and took advantage of every opportunity to get some really good wins,” said K-W coach Matt Addington. “It felt really good.”
The wins gave the Knights (8-4, 4-1 HVL-Blue) four straight victories and against key teams, too. Three were conference opponents and two were sub-section opponents. K-W has won six of its last seven overall.
“Those were four really crucial games for us, and to come out with four straight wins was just great for our confidence,” Addington said. “It doesn’t guarantee you of anything, but it does put you in a spot where you want to be.”
K-W 70, Lake City 66
The three-point play was a key piece to the Knights’ 70-66 win over Lake City in Kenyon on Friday.
K-W led 29-24 at halftime and benefited from three points on eight of its 11 scoring possessions. Two were and-ones from Brad Rostad and Zach Quaale and the other six were 3-pointers.
The Knights finished with eight 3s in the game, three from Austin Bauer, three from Peder Sviggum and two from Sam Roosen.
Bauer, who is still playing junior varsity minutes, finished with 13 points.
“The last couple of games he’s played with great confidence and did a lot of other blue-collar stuff we need his role to do,” Addington said. “He really provided us a boost.”’
The Knights led by as many as 14 in the second half, but a stretch of seven turnovers in nine possessions allowed the Tigers back into the game.
Quaale then shouldered the load down the stretch and hit 9 of 11 free throws late and finished with 13 points.
Sviggum led the team with 14, and Derek Greseth scored 11.
The Knights shot 53.7 percent from the field and out-rebounded Lake City 30-15, which helped make up for K-W’s 22 turnovers.
K-W 58, Cannon Falls 53
Eighteen points from Roosen and 12 each from Jeremy Patton and Greseth helped the Knights drop Cannon Falls on the road on Jan. 17.
Sviggum added a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds.
“We just seemed to keep them at arm’s length the whole night,” Addington said. “Our defense was pretty good outside of the lane.”
The Knights trailed by one at halftime but took the lead in the second half. They again out-rebounded their opponent, 38-34.
Addington said strong rebounding and perimeter defense have played a major part of the team’s four-game winning streak.
Up next
The Knights hosted Goodhue on Tuesday, but results were not available at press time. Goodhue was the only team to beat the Knights in their last seven games, a 50-48 loss on Jan. 6. K-W ends the week with a conference game at 7:15 p.m. on Friday at Pine Island.
— Sports reporter Josh Berhow may be reached at 333-3119. Follow him on Twitter at @joshberhow
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