No. 5 Crusaders defeat No. 4 Sibley East

It was a slippery Thursday night and the 4th ranked Wolverines welcomed the 5th ranked Crusaders of the extended west metro. The bleachers were packed with private school kids on one side cheering against public school attendees filling the seats of the other. One team had depth while the other had a superstar. The make-up of the teams looks quite different but they combined for some memorable action.

A lot of different things build up the chemistry that is competition. Right now one of the better mixes is that of Mayer Lutheran and Sibley East within the Minnesota River Conference. Coming into last night's pivotal match-up both teams were undefeated in league play looking to get an edge not only in the conference race but also in the southern portion of the class AA section five seeding battle.

Sibley East is a public school combing mostly kids from Gaylord and Arlington, Minnesota in what you can safely call rural Minnesota. It's a team with a legit high school basketball superstar in North Dakota State signed Marshall Bjorklund plus a few other talented players. They aren't as deep as some other ranked teams but they are a feisty bunch on the defensive end as they seem to give 100 percent at all times listening to the directions of coach Todd Warzecha.

Mayer Lutheran is a private school that competes with talent that comes to them from Waconia, Chaska, Watertown, Excelsior, and elsewhere from the extended west metro. They are not a team full up superstars but they are very deep, they have a lot of size, and there is not much drop off in players one through ten. Mayer Lutheran has the look of an unselfish team that can get production from just about anywhere.

As I drove home in the passenger seat of the Hoop Master traveling machine I thought about the different mix in this basketball game and how it produced such an exciting night of basketball. There was definite passion and that was evident both looking in the rear view mirror as well as starring forward up the highway. Fans of both these teams likely had to head north on highway 5 to get home and that was evident as cars lined the icy road for as far as the eye could see. Conversations in every vehicle all had their own view points but what they witnessed was a great basketball game between Mayer Lutheran and Sibley East.

How high were the spirits of these players? If you weren't sure all you had to do was read the face of Mayer Lutheran junior Travis Rollo after he swatted a Marshall Bjorklund shot hard off the backboard and then sent another Wolverine shot into the stands two seconds later. Two swats and a scream from Rollo resulted everybody in the building taking notice that intensity was in this game from the start.

Sibley East jumped out on the Crusaders 25-14 with a lot of defensive effort from junior Lucas Herd, a ton of team deflections as the Wolverines did a great job of playing with active hands, much low post scoring from Marshall going either way off his shoulder, and then a scoring outburst from senior Ian Berg. Word is that if Ian Berg makes his first two shots watch out and that was the case in the first half. In addition, the Crusader defense also had some mishaps including leaving Bjorklund wide open to hit an 18-footer was well as some defensive help mistakes in the defense of Marshall's low post game.

Down 30-21 at the half Mayer Lutheran went into the break and came out a different team. With the understanding that they were being beaten on the offensive end by two players (Bjorklund and Berg scored 47 of the team's points overall) the Crusaders put more focus on the pair. Marshall had to face his low post defender and an immediate extending help defender any time he went to the cup. Berg was hounded relentlessly while the passing lanes to his teammates were completely shut down.

With the defensive effort taken to a higher level the Crusaders than saw Aaron Cook go coast to coast for a pair of open floor scores. The second of which gave his team the lead. Meanwhile, another big momentum boost came from junior shooter Mitch Gassen who hit three straight triples that had Mayer Lutheran fans bouncing in their seats.

Late in the game holding the lead Mayer Lutheran received some big post plays from senior center Luke Buttenhoff. Luke had key boards, some important point production, and most importantly was his late game defense on Bjorklund. As a team the Crusader defense effort was strong as Buttenhoff worked Marshall higher off the block and also made entry passes tough. Then when Marshall tried to attack from the low post corners, like he loves to do, the help was on top of him. This was the case on the last Sibley East possession that forced Marshall to kick the ball back out to Berg. Needing only a basket to take the lead Berg was smothered with every dribble trying to attack. His drive wasn't allowed inside the arc until he got near the opposite baseline and at that point a tired Berg threw up a tough attempt resulting in an airball. A couple free throws later and a Sibley East desperation miss ending the game Mayer Lutheran was victorious 60-57.

In defeat Marshall Bjorklund broke the school record for scoring. He made 12 of 18 shots scoring 26 points to go with 13 rebounds and four blocks.