HECKEL, JOHNSON TOP INMAN SCORING

By William

MINNEAPOLIS – A struggle to convert on free throws seemed to be the undoing of the Inman boys basketball team on Friday as they lost their 2020-21 season opener by just three points, 55-52 on the road at Minneapolis.

The Teutons were only able to convert seven of seventeen free throw attempts which most likely cost them the game overall as they held a slim five-point, 27-22 lead going into the halftime break before letting Minneapolis push out ahead by six by the end of the third quarter at 44-38.

While Inman did outscore the host team in the final stanza, they only made up half the points.

“We played a really good Minneapolis team tonight,” explained Teuton Head Coach Brett Froese. “They were fast and physical, and they played really tough. I knew going in they were going to be a huge test for us tonight especially coming off short time, but that is no excuse. They were well coached and really had a good game plan against us tonight.”

The short time Coach Froese referred to was that the majority of the Teuton roster consists of players who played on the football team that just finished a late season run into the state playoffs.

Coach Froese continued his post-game reflections by adding, “We started slow and tight, something I kind of expected to be honest. Once we settled in, we played much better. We did not shoot the ball well at all tonight and we are going to have to do that to win games. Our finish rate around the rim was not even close to what it needs to be as we got muscled on the glass, especially early on. We will have to get more from our big guys and we also can not shoot just 7-17 from the line plus we can not turn the ball over 17 times either. Now we did force a lot of turnovers ourselves which I was extremely happy about. We will have to regroup because it isn’t going to get any easier for us next week.”

As for the individual efforts, the Teutons were led by freshman Tanner Heckel who hit for 12 points while Derick Johnson scored 11 and both Kyler Konrade and Jace Doerksen chipped in with seven.

Talking about individual efforts, Coach Froese concluded his reflections by saying, “I thought (Tanner) Heckel’s first game was a good one as he played well along with (Derick) Johnson, (Kyler) Konrade, and (Kendyn) Blank. Our first game is under our belt and now it is time to keep getting better.”

The Teutons return to the competitive hardwood on Tuesday, December 8 when they battle with Lyons as part of the Moundridge Pre-Season Basketball Tournament.

INMAN at Minneapolis:

SCORING:        1          2          3          4          FINAL

INMAN             8          19        11        14        52

Minneapolis   8          14        22        11        55

INMAN TEUTON INDIVDIUAL SCORING LEADERS: Tanner Heckel – 12; Derick Johnson – 11; Kyler Konrade – 7; Jace Doerksen – 7; Eli Brunk – 4; Mason Carter – 4.

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