Cass Lake-Bena wins, moves on at State

By Anthony Gray

Pioneer Sports Writer

      MINNEAPOLIS - The Cass Lake-Bena boys basketball team shook off an atypical shooting night to beat St. Agnes of St. Paul 74-67 in the opening round of the Minnesota Class A state tournament Wednesday at the Target Center.

      The Panthers shot just 38 percent from the field, nearly 20 percentage points off their season average, while the Aggies ended at 45 percent.

      One of the state’s leading scorers Byron Ninham (26.1 points per game) ended 4 of 20 from the field and 4 of 8 from the foul line for just 13 of the Panthers’ points.

      But Bill Brown, David Chessmore and Kevin Muller stepped up to fill the scoring void and others came through with key rebounds, steals and baskets at just the right time.

      “Byron and Bill have carried us the whole season,” CL-B coach Dan Ninham said. “Byron was ice cold from the field but Bill came out and had a dynamite effort for us.

      “It really was a team effort with everyone getting a key rebound or getting a key trap.”

      Brown led the team with 25 points while Chessmore and Muller added 15 and 12 points.

      “We’re not here just because of Byron Ninham,” said Dan Ninham of his son whose 13 points was the lowest output of his 3-year varsity career.

      “We just try to do what we can without Byron and try and fill in,” Muller said.

      The Panthers led much of the game, building an 11-point lead midway through the third quarter. But the Aggies crept back in, pulling to within 66-64 with 2:13 remaining in the game.

      On the ensuing possession, CL-B’s Byron Ninham missed a jumper but sophomore Brady Fairbanks was there for the offensive rebound for a 68-64 lead.

      “That’s my game,” Fairbanks said. “The coaches tell me to do it and I do what they tell me to do.”

      From there the Panthers went 6 of 9 from the foul line to clinch the win.

      “We did good from the line tonight and we just have to keep hitting them in close situations like this,” said Muller, who was a perfect 8 of 8 from the line.

      The Panthers’ half-court trap defense was as effective against St. Agnes, as it has been all season. CL-B forced 21 turnovers on the night which turned into 14 points.

      St. Agnes took the lead early as three-year starter Justin Samuelson hit two of his game-high 26 points to put the Aggies up 13-7 with 2:12 left in the first quarter.

      Brown, who also led the team with three assists and four steals, closed the quarter with one of three 3s on the night for a 16-15 CL-B lead.

      The second was back-and-forth until the 3:32 mark when Muller tied the game at 27-27 with a pair from the line. That sparked a 14-6 CL-B run and a 39-33 lead to close out the first half.

      The Panthers would never trail again. Back-to-back layups by Brown in the third gave CL-B their largest lead of the game, 50-39.

      In the fourth, Chessmore kept the Aggies at bay as he turned offensive rebounds into points on back-to-back trips down the court. Fairbanks also had another offensive put back in the final quarter.

      The Aggies won the battle under the basket where the 6-foot-5 Samuelson picked up nearly all of his points and pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds. St. Agnes outrebounded the Panthers 50-34 but CL-B capitalized on their 16 offensive boards with 22 second-chance points.

      “We stress all the fundamentals because they are so encompassing,” Dan Ninham said. “People write books on that stuff.

      “But we’re not satisfied. There were still a number of rebounds that we didn’t get.”

      Greg Kirkland and Kevin Smith each added 10 points for the Aggies.

      The Panthers (24-6) extended their state tournament appearance to Friday when they take on Rushford-Peterson in the semifinals at 1 p.m. at the Target Center. The Trojans (19-11) beat Battle Lake 50-41 in Wednesday’s nightcap at the Target Center.

      “I told them to do what we do,” Dan Ninham said he told the team before the game. “We’re here for a reason and we want to keep on playing. If we won this game we were assured of at least fourth in the state. That’s dynamite for us.”

      In the lower bracket at Williams Arena Marshall County Central defeated Sleepy Eye-St. Mary’s 64-62 in double overtime and defending champion Russell-Tyler-Ruthton defeated Mountain Iron-Buhl 66-43.

      “This is amazing; you have to do it to know what it feels like,” Fairbanks said of the state tournament experience.

      “We just want to keep going, especially after this win,” Muller added.

Notes

K Smith is the son of former Minnesota Golden Gopher Kevin Smith.

K Aggies’ coach Clarence Hightower is the brother of NCAA basketball official Ed Hightower.

K It was the first time in CL-B history that both the boys and girls basketball teams have made the state tournament in the same year.

Cass Lake-Bena 16 23 13 22 - 74

St. Agnes 15 18 14 20 - 67

Cass Lake-Bena (24-6): Brady Fairbanks 2-7 1-2 5, Bill Brown 8-17 6-8 25, KEvin Muller 2-8 8-8 12, Byron Ninham 4-20 4-8 13, David Chessmore 7-8 1-2 15, Travis Huesers 1-3 0-0 3, Anthony Robinson 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 24-64 21-30 74.

St. Agnes (18-12): Greg Kirkland 5-14 0-0 10, Nate Shrake 3-9 1-2 7, Kevin Smith 4-11 1-4 10, Justin Samuelson 11-15 4-5 26, Curtis Herzberg 3-6 2-2 8, Karl Collins 0-0 0-0 0, Mike Pohl 3-6 0-0 6, Joe Koenig 0-3 0-0 0, Mike Kracht 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-64 8-13 67.

3-point field goals: CLB 5-15 (Brown 3-8, Ninham 1-4, Huesers 1-2, Robinson 0-1), SA 1-13 (Kirkland 0-4, Smith 1-4, Samuelson 0-1, Pohl 0-3, Koenig 0-1). Rebounds: CLB 34 (Ninham 10), SA 50 (Samuelson 16). Assists: CLB 7 (Brown 4), SA 10 (Kirkland 5). Turnovers: CLB 10 (Brown 4), SA 21 (Smith 7). Personnal fouls: CLB 13, SA 22.

Officials: Steve Makowske, Paul Raj, Al Gregory.