Panthers take third place at state

By Anthony Gray

Pioneer Sports Writer

      ST. PAUL - The Cass Lake-Bena boys basketball team may not have ended as the best in Class 1A but the 2004-05 team did end as the best in school history.

      In two previous tries, CL-B ended no better than fourth at the state tournament. So when the Panthers defeated Marshall County Central 69-60 at Concordia-St. Paul Saturday for the third-place trophy the team earned the distinction as the best basketball team ever at Cass Lake-Bena.

      “It was fun being part of something that was so great and in a program with such a great history,” said senior captain Ed Basurto who sat a majority of the season with a knee injury.

      “Being part of the final four is still oh so sweet,” senior Byron Ninham added. “There are so many Class 1A teams in the state and we’re one of the final four.”

      “It’s been a fun year. I wish I could have played a whole career here,” said senior Bill Brown who played just two seasons for the Panthers. “It’s been fun though.”  

      CL-B fell behind 7-0 at the start Saturday but stayed close, tying the game three times in the first quarter. A 3-pointer by Brown tied the game at 7-7 at 4:15. Byron Ninham’s layup two minutes later tied it at 9-9 and Brady Fairbanks’ layup at 1:37 tied it at 11-11.

      The Nordics earned their biggest lead 22-13 at 6:02 of the second quarter but the Panthers turned a 9-point deficit into a 9-point lead by outscoring the Nordics 22-4 for a 35-26 lead at the half.

      “They kind of floated around in a 1-3-1 zone and we got some easy shots,” Byron Ninham said. “When we kept moving the ball around in the first half was when we won the game.”

      Junior Anthony Robinson sparked the run with a 3-pointer, layup and a pair from the foul line. Sophomore Brady Fairbanks added six points during the run while Byron Ninham hit four, Brown three and junior Kevin Muller two.

      Aiding the key scoring stretch were blocks by Byron Ninham, Brown and junior David Chessmore. Brown, Robinson and Muller picked up key steals.

      “It was a total team effort,” CL-B coach Dan Ninham said. “I’m very proud.”

      The Panthers never trailed in the second half but the Nordics climbed to within 41-39 at the midway point of the third on a layup by Dustin Monsebroten. But back-to-back 3s by Brown and Ninham and a Muller jumper gave Cass Lake-Bena a 49-39 lead with 2:48 left in the third.

      A 3 by Jay Maurstad less than a minute into the fourth cut CL-B’s lead to 55-51 but the Panthers scored the next seven points to lead 62-51 with 2:44 left in regulation.

      From there CL-B coasted, clinching the win by hitting 5-of-7 from the line down the stretch.

      Brown and Byron Ninham led the Panthers with 17 points each. Fairbanks added 15 and Robinson ended with 11.

      Maurstad took scoring honors with 37 points--18 points from behind the arc.

      “If Jay would’ve had more than 37 points and we still came out on top I’d still be happy,” Byron Ninham said.

      Byron Ninham pulled down 10 rebounds and MCC’s Andrew Johnson had 13.

      The game ended the high school careers of Byron Ninham, Brown and Basurto. Byron Ninham ended the season with 797 points in 32 games (25 points per game), one of the top single-season performances in the state’s history. It also ended the coach-son relationship between Byron and Dan Ninham.

      “Having coached Byron for three years is almost emotional,” Dan Ninham said. “But I’m sure I’ll lose that feeling later.”

      Basurto, whose injury happened just prior to the start of the season, said the team couldn’t have done it without the fans.

      “A lot of people deserve thanks for supporting this team and I’d also like to say thanks to those people for supporting me during my injury,” he said.

      Dan Ninham said he hopes the experience of making it to the state tournament drives the program for the future.

      “We’re now going to have to start a new era,” Dan Ninham said. “We have three seniors but we lose so much with those three.

      “The younger kids have all seen the physical and mental shape of the people that we’ve played against down here and now we’ll have to pick it up a step or two and get after it.”

      The Panthers ended the year with a 25-7 record.

Notes

      K Brown, Byron Ninham, Maurstad and Monsebroten were selected to the 1A All-Tournament team. Others selected were Tyler Drinkall, Alex Mierau and Tony Rislove of runner-up Rushford-Peterson and Brett Newton, Travis Schultz and Kyle Minett of champion Russell-Tyler-Ruthton.

      K Maurstad, Monsebroten and Byron Ninham all played on the same AAU basketball team.

      K Monsebroten is the Nordics’ all-time leading scorer.

Cass Lake-Bena 69,

Marshall County Central 60.

Cass Lake-Bena (25-7): Brady Fairbanks 6-12 3-4 15, Bill Brown 4-14 6-8 17, Kevin Muller 3-11 2-2 8, Byron Ninham 7-15 2-4 17, David Chessmore 0-4 1-4 1, Travis Huesers 0-1 0-0 0, Anthony Robinson 4-8 2-3 11. Totals 24-65 16-25 69.

Marshall County Central (22-10): Andy Brons 0-2 0-1 0, Dustin Monsebroten 3-11 2-2 9, Jay Maurstad 15-25 1-1 37, Andrew Johnson 3-13 0-0 6, Tyler Blazejewski 2-3 0-0 4, Tony Peterson 0-0 0-0 0, Andy Krangness 0-0 0-0- 0, Kameron Peterson 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Maki 1-1 0-0 2, Casey Wagner 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Haven 0-2 0-2 0, Anthony Dahl 0-0 0-0 0. Brandon Steinhauer 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 25-58, 3-6 60.

3-point field goals: CLB 5-21 (Fairbanks 0-1, Brown 3-7, Muller 0-4, Ninham 1-4, Robinson 1-4), MCC 7-18 (Brons 0-1, Monsebroten 1-5, Maurstad 6-12). Fouled out: Monsebroten, Blazejewski. Technical fouls: Blazejewski. Rebounds: CLB 41 (Ninham 10), MCC 42 (Johnson 13). Assists: CLB 13 (Fairbanks, Brown 5), MCC 16 (Monsebroten 10). Turnovers: CLB 9 (Ninham 3), MCC 18 (Monsebroten 6). Officials: Scott Colbeck, Marc Schleismann, Greg Snow.