Boys split pair of opening week games

The La Crescent High School boys basketball team began its season a week later than its first 2 contenders of the 2012-13 season. When the Lancers took to the road, their first 2 competitors each had 2 games in hand.

Although that did not quit the Lancers from showing well, falling by a handful of points in their opening game — in which they had a last-2nd shot to win — & winning big in their second contest.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa 71, Lancers 67. La Crescent opened its season on Dec. 11 when it made the long trip to Zumbrota-Mazeppa to face a team that already had 2 games under its belt. The gw2 gold game featured a lot of offense as the Lancers amassed 67 points, but it wasn't enough to overcome a 13-point halftime deficit.

La Crescent fell behind 40-27 at halftime, though played better in the second half, nearly turning the tables by outscoring the Cougars 40-31 in the 2nd half. On the other hand, that 4-point margin was adequate for the home team to pick up its first win of the season.

Zack Melbostad had a powerful season-opening effort, leading all scorers with 20 points. Nate Peterson and Ben McCoy also had solid efforts, scoring 15 and 13 points, respectively, to keep the game close.

"We did not start particularly well. We got down 17 at 1 point in the very first half & were down 13 at the half," head coach Aaron Arneson said. "We did not do a astonishing work of making them miss. However, in the second half, we came out with more intensity & began out on an eight-0 run. We in the end took a one-point lead that we could not hold on to."

The Lancers had a shot with about two seconds left to win, though it wouldn't fall.

"I was pleased that we kept battling on the road in our first game versus a team that had already played 2 games," he mentioned.

La Crescent scoring: Zack Melbostad 20, Nate Peterson 15, Ben McCoy 13, Payton McQuin seven, Joe Sandvik 6, Graham Eddy four, John Gurholt 2.

Lancers 64, Pine Island 45. La Crescent traveled to Pine Island for a uncommon Saturday afternoon game. Maybe the Lancers would like to play the oddly scheduled time more, as they came away with a convincing 19-point victory.

La Crescent used a solid first-half effort to leave minimal doubt as to the final outcome, in spite of one other half of basketball to play. The Lancers (1-1) jumped out to a 39-17 on the Panthers (0-3) at halftime, & although they were outscored 28-25 in the 2nd half, it made no distinction in the outcome of the game.

Melbostad and Peterson combined for 27 points & 25 rebounds — 15 for Melbostad and ten for Peterson — to help the Lancers to the big halftime lead. Having said that, it was sophomore Payton McQuin that led all scorers with 17 points.

"We spent the subsequent 3 days after the Zumbrota game troublesome our players to pay more attention to detail, as we felt that was what we lacked against Zumbrota," Arneson stated. "We needed to focus on doing the tiny points better: closing out high hands, boxing out, anticipating cutters and not trailing screens. We did that on Saturday. I felt like much of what we worked on was executed by our players."

La Crescent scoring: Payton McQuin 17, Zack Melbostad 16, Nate Peterson 11, Ben McCoy 8, Zach Duerwachter five, Graham Eddy 5, Nick Rogich two.

This week, the Lancers open the home portion of their schedule, which started on Tuesday with a game against Winona Cotter. On Friday, Kasson-Mantorville comes to town for a 7:15 p.m. game.