The Full Court Press

It was just last year that current Augustana standout Cody Schilling set a new career scoring mark of 3,428 points in the state of Minnesota. How long will the record stand? Not very long if Minnesota Transitions junior forward Kevin Noreen keeps up his blistering pace of point production.

Kevin is currently averaging 33.4 points, 14.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 4.7 steals, and 1.4 blocks a game. He's shooting 65.3 percent from the floor, 45.1 percent from beyond the arc, and 80 percent from the foul line. Last night against St. Agnes Kevin scored 29 points on 12 of 18 shooting including one three pointer and four of seven shooting from the foul line. He also put up nine rebounds, eight steals, six assists and topped the 2,500 point mark. Kevin recorded these totals in front of North Carolina State coach Sidney Lowe and assistant Monte Towe. Butler and Liberty were also recently at a contest to see Kevin and the rest of the team play.

Kevin isn't the only player making headlines for the second ranked Wolves. Teammates Jerrell Washington and Kyle Noreen are also having strong seasons averaging 26.8 and 14.8 points a game respectively. Washington and teammate Andre Ingram each received division one junior college scholarships from Lake Region State recently.

NDSCS, Western Nebraska, and Lincoln Trail (IL) are also quite interested in both Jerrell and Andre. Ingram got a late start on the season and has just started playing heavy minutes in the last five or six weeks. He still has an average of six points a game plus he's blocked 66 shots in the last 14 contests.

THE DIRTY SOUTH (East)

We're heading back to Austin where the Packers have improved their record to 14-3 on the season and have won four games in a row. This week the Pack hammered on Waseca and Albert Lea winning the games by a combined 67 points plus they had huge wins over Faribault and Owatonna in the prior week. The win over the Huskies gave Austin's record legitimacy.

"We've had a tough time with really good teams and we consider Owatonna to be a really good team, so this is a huge win for us," Austin head coach Kris Fadness. "Now we can say we can beat really good teams. We showed some resiliency and made some big shots down the stretch."

In that win the Packers received 23 points from junior standout Conner Gunderson who at 6-foot-5 on the wing has had some big scoring games this season.

THE WILD WILD WEST

Look out Minnesota the Rothsay Tigers are starting to come together! They have won six games in a row and have pushed their record to 10-7 on the season. Earlier this week the Tigers defeated Underwood 67-45 and it gave Rothsay a two game edge on top of the Little Eight Conference. Leading the squad is NDSU commit Jordan Aaberg and lets remember that last year this team was just 2-22.

"Aaberg recently recorded his fifth triple-double of the season in a 53-43 win over Hillcrest Lutheran Academy," said Rothsay coach Steven Hartman. "His line on the night was 23 points, 17 rebounds, ten blocks, and six assists."

Jordan is currently averaging 22.4 points, 14.3 rebounds, 6.8 blocks, and 3.8 assists.

THE GREAT NORTH

Hearing the chants "CASS LAKE-BENA, bum-bum-bum bum bum, CASS LAKE-BENA, bum-bum-bum bum bum" makes me think of March Madness in Minnesota and the Panthers are sitting pretty well once again for their postseason run. They've won ten of their last 11 games and are scoring 95.8 points a contest.

"Nate Howard got his 1,000th point on Tuesday versus Walker-Hackensack-Akeley," said coach Dan Ninham. "He and Martin Wind have elevated their games another notch since last year. Martin is averaging 12 assists a game and had 40 points on Tuesday including six for six on threes at one time and eight total for the game.

"Martin averages 24.7 points per game and Nate 23.9 points which is tough to have our point and two guard averaging so much at the same time. Martin has 1,608 career points and is approaching Brady Fairbanks's career record of 1,962. We miss the Salscheiders in the paint but juniors Ben Cameron and Tyler Trosen are contributing and learning every day. We are 13-5 and expect to be 28-5 and state champs. We should have another good season next year and I'm curious how we will be after that."

THE CENTRAL LAKES- CHRIS LEWIS REGION

In what was certainly a game of the year candidate St. Cloud Tech outlasted Willmar 85-84 last week. In the final stages of the contest Nate Wolters added to his legendary big game status with his performance late in the game. He drove for a score, had a steal, and hit some game winning free throws to keep Tech undefeated (they are now 19-0 on the season).

"It was a good win," said Wolters. "But we could've played a lot better. We're just happy to come out of here with a win. They are really long and athletic. (Taylor) Filipek's a great player and so is Jordan Smith. It's a good conference win."

Wolters nearly put up a triple double recording 29 points, ten rebounds, and eight assists while Filipek scored 18 points with four assists.