24th article at the Independent

TRACY — With only a couple of games left in the regular season, the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton and Wabasso boys basketball teams wanted to create some momentum before the postseason. Wabasso was able to gain a solid start, but a strong second-half rally by TMB propelled the Panthers to a 66-54 victory on Friday.

The Rabbits came out red-hot, hitting multiple 3-pointers to take a five-point lead into halftime 31-26. TMB head coach Rick Haberman spoke about the lack of intensity exhibited in the opening half.

“I thought our intensity wasn’t where it needs to be in the first half,” Haberman said. “Wabasso was hard to guard, Isaac Kronback made some great shots and we just didn’t bring it in the first half.”

Then the Panthers got going.

The Panthers were able to take the lead 47-46 with just 10 minutes left in the game behind strong inside play from TMB center Tony Nelson. Then they seized momentum by going on a 9-1 run, putting distance between them and the Rabbits for good.

Kronback had a game-high 23 points for Wabasso and hit four of his five 3-pointers attempted. Rabbits forward Sam Fenger had a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. However, it wasn’t enough as the Rabbits were held to just 23 second-half points while TMB scored 40 in the frame to secure the victory. Wabasso head coach Josh Hadley gave praise to his team’s performance despite the loss.

“For the most part we were very patient tonight and got a lot of shots we wanted,” Hadley said. “Credit to Tracy, they kind of sped the game up on us and put a press on. When we go fast, we tend to make mistakes but credit our kids for playing today as we are dealing with injuries and just ran out of gas tonight.”

Nelson led the Panthers with 19 points and made nine out of his 10 shots from the field. Panthers forward Jake Turner had a double-double registering 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Both head coaches relayed messages to the team on closing out the regular season and getting ready for section tournament time. Coach Haberman elaborated on it.

“We felt like we haven’t started games well lately,” Haberman said. “We need to start the game with intensity going into section play.”

Coach Hadley also spoke on his message to his team as well getting ready for sectional play.

“This was a good game to end the regular season on,” Hadley said. ” Let’s get healthy, have a good week of practice and go win.”

TMB (19-7) will conclude the regular season by traveling to Prinsburg to take on the Central Minnesota Christian Bluejays in the Camden Conference championship game on Monday evening at 7 p.m. while Wabasso (12-14) earned the No. 5 seed in the North bracket of the Section 3A tournament and will face No. 4 Lac qui Parle Valley on March 5 at 12:30 p.m. in Montevideo.

TMB 66, Wabasso 54

Wabasso 31 23 – 54

TMB 26 40 – 66

Scoring: TMB (Nelson 9-10, 1-4 19; Turner 6-10, 0-0 13; M. Munson 5-5, 0-1 10; Wendland 4-10, 0-0 9; Smith 3-13, 0-0 6; Swenhaugen 2-7, 0-0 5; Ankrum 1-3, 0-0 2; Schmitt 1-2, 0-0 2); Wabasso (Kronback 9-17, 1-2 23; Fenger 5-10, 3-4 13; Anderson 3-8, 0-0 9; Goblish 4-9, 0-0 9).

Rebounds: TMB 31 (Turner 10; Nelson 8; Wendland 5; Ankrum 4; Swenhaugen 2; Smith, Schmitt 1); Wabasso 24 (Fenger 14; Bock 6; Kronback 3; Goblish 1).

Assists: TMB 18 (Swenhaugen 5; M. Munson 4; Turner 3; Ankrum, Wendland 2; Smith, Nelson 1); Wabasso 13 (Fenger, Bock, Anderson, Kronback 3; Goblish 1).

Steals: TMB 7 (Ankrum 3; Wendland 2; Schmitt, Swenhaugen 1); Wabasso 1 (Kronback).