BIG WIN — NRHEG sophomore Jarek Schendel goes up for a shot during the Panthers’ 62-29 victory over St. Clair last week. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)

By JIM LUTGENS

Editor/Publisher

The NRHEG boys’ basketball team experienced both ends of the scoreboard spectrum last week.

On Monday, they faced a shorthanded St. Clair squad and rolled to a 62-29 triumph.

Three nights later they traveled to Waterville and were brought to earth by the powerful Buccaneers, 78-48.

The Panthers’ record stands at 7-16 overall and 4-10 in the Gopher Conference. Several of the losses have been very close.

That wasn’t the case against St. Clair as the Panthers bolted to a 34-12 halftime lead and never looked back. The Cyclones were without three starters.

“We knew that they had a few players out, but I told our kids we needed to play with fire and intensity from the start to the finish,” said Panthers coach Pat Churchill. “We had a lot of shots in the paint and we were making a lot of good passes to the open cutters. We won the rebound battle 42-17 for the night.  We want to start winning some of those close games we've had this year.”

Tyler Sorenson put up a double-double for the Panthers with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Matt Carlson scored 17. Others: Spencer Hanna nine points; Nic Mangskau eight points, six rebounds; Sam Lundberg six points, six assists; Carter Tollefson four points, six rebounds; Lucas Meyer two points.

The Panthers trailed 51-21 at halftime against WEM.

“It was a blowout from start to finish,” said Churchill. “WEM jumped out to a 9- 0 lead and forced 18 first-half turnovers. You give credit to them, they are a great team and they rattled our cage a little bit and we didn't respond very well. They were 12-19 in the paint in the first half and got any shot they wanted and we struggled to get any looks. We played better in the second half but it was too late”

WEM improved to 17-1 overall and remained unbeaten in the conference.

Individually for NRHEG: Sorenson 11 points, six rebounds; Carlson 11 points; Lundberg 11 points, eight rebounds; Tollefson six points; Meyer five points; Mangskau three points; Hanna one point.

The Panthers finish the regular season in the next week, playing Tuesday at Medford, hosting Randolph Thursday and traveling to Waseca Feb. 21.