Late surge not enough as Blooming Prairie boys lose home-opener

Another hard-fought game effort fell just a bit short for the Blooming Prairie boys basketball team. St. Clair held on for a 72-63 win in the home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 24.  
The loss dropped the Blossoms to 1-2 over the first three games.
 Three-point shooting by the Cyclones’ Brandon Goebel in the first half and 6-foot-5–inch sophomore Mitchell Weber’s dominance under the basket in the second half provided two good reasons for the St. Clair victory.  Both teams traded baskets early, with the visitors taking a slim early lead.  A 9-2 run near the 11-minute mark, however, put the winners up by 10 points, and they maintained that lead into the break, holding a 41-33 margin at that point.
“I certainly can’t fault the effort or the energy,” remarked Coach Nathan Piller. “We have to have more consistency in possessions and in finishing those possessions with points or a rebound to take another step forward.”
BP kept pace with the Cyclones in the second half, but the team just couldn’t find a way to eliminate the first half margin. Too often the visitors kept a possession alive with a second or third chance underneath and the Blossoms continually had to fight to keep the game within reach. 
Anthony Nelson scored the last nine points for the Blossoms on the way to a 32-point game, but the Cyclones were able to respond to every attempt from the locals.  Marten Morem and Jake Ressler, two of the BP sophomore contingent, scored 12 and 10 points in the losing effort.  
“Nelson continues to impress with his scoring, leadership and will to compete and we will get better as the season progresses,” added Piller.
Jake Ressler, one of the sophomores, added, “I thought we played pretty well for the first time at home. It was a fun game, despite the fact that we lost.”
The team shot 47 percent from the field; Nelson went 13 of 24 for 54 percent from the field and four of five at the free throw line. St. Clair outrebounded BP by a half dozen, with the locals pulling down 27. Ressler had eight boards for BP and Nick Thompson and Morem had five and four, respectively. The locals turned the ball over 13 times. 
The junior varsity team stands at 1-2 also, as it splits a pair of games at the Triton tourney and lost to St. Clair in the home opener last week. The locals trailed the Cyclones 24-18 at the break, but BP came back in the second half and actually led by 28-25 with five minutes left in the game. 
The visitors then took control, thanks to local turnovers. Nick Thompson had nine points, and Cameron Kubista and Connor Getchgell had eight and seven points respectively. Eighth-grader Caden Thomas added six.
After a really half that put the Blossoms up on Triton 26-20 at the break, the home team rebounded to make the second half a heart stopper. The Cobras led by three points, with just seconds left, but BP stole the ball and Kory Rafdal hit a basket, but it was just a two-pointer for a final score of 42-41 for Triton. Nick Thompson had nine points and Cameron Kubista and Trent Swenson each had eight.
The Blossoms led Kenyon-Wanamingo just 18-16 at the half in the earlier game, but the locals outscored the Knights 20-12 in the second half to pull away for the win.  Kubista led the scoring with 19 points, and freshman Swenson chipped in 11 for the Blossoms. BP made seven free throws in the second half.