Loboes go 2-0

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John M. Steiner / The Sun LaMoure’s Kenny Hodem surveys the floor as Maple Valley-Enderlin’s Brady Behm defends during Monday night’s game in Tower City.
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The Loboes’ Brady Thielges goes to the basket against Maple Valley-Enderlin’s Eliot Preston.

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TOWER CITY — Brady Thielges helped the LaMoure-Litchville-Marion boys basketball team to a blazing start on Monday night.

The Loboes ended up needing every point.

Thielges had 16 of his team-high 22 points in the first half, but nearly fell victim to Maple Valley standout Jordan Haselau in the second half as L-L-M held on for a 56-54 victory at Maple Valley High School.

L-L-M was a blistering 67 percent (18 of 27) in the first half, which included four 3-pointers, three of which were banked in.

“I think most of (our offense) came off defensive transition,” L-L-M coach Darren Thielges said. “We were attacking the basket. Guys were making good reads. They went to zone in the second half. ... We didn’t recognize that very well.”

Maple Valley, trailing by as many as 17 in the first half and 40-25 at halftime, got a star effort out of Haselau, who finished 10-of-19 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line for a game-high 30 points. He also had two 3-pointers.

“The biggest thing was trying to put a hand in his face,” Thielges said. “We had to know where he was at because he’s such a good driver. He gets guys up in the air and then steps underneath and leans in and draws contact. He’s a good player.”

But the first half proved to be too much to overcome, as the Raiders were never able to overtake L-L-M. Thielges sparked an 8-2 run to open the second quarter with a pair of 3-pointers and gave the Loboes their first double-digit lead.

“Giving up 40 points; that’s too much. We can’t have that,” Maple Valley coach Jay Kocka said of his team’s first half defense. “We gave up too much penetration. I felt they outworked us in the first half. We didn’t change things. We went some zone, but our intensity was up and guys responded.”

Haselau scored 17 in a second half that opened with a 12-2 Maple Valley run. The Raiders fought their way back into the contest all the way down to the fourth quarter, when 6-foot-7 post James Richman fouled out with 2 minutes, 22 seconds to go. Richman had 14 points.

However, Haselau took over again, scoring his team’s final nine points. Thielges, who was guarding Haselau in the fourth quarter, fouled out with 1:06 remaining, and the Raiders were able to get within three at 54-51 on Haselau’s trey off the right wing.

“Jordan’s gonna do that for us,” said Kocka, whose team (0-1) visits Enderlin on Friday. “He’s a special player for us.”

L-L-M’s Jared Meiklejohn responded with 1-of-2 from the line after a foul, but Haselau came down and converted a 3-point play to close the gap to one at 55-54. Meiklejohn again made the front end of his bonus free-throw attempts with 5.3 seconds remaining, but missed the second one. The shot went off the rim and both teams scrambled for the ball as time ran out.

L-L-M received a 17-point effort out of Anthony Olson, who had his team’s only two field goals in the second half. The Loboes shot 22-of-48 for 46 percent, while Maple Valley finished 21-of-48 for 44 percent.

Turnovers seemed to tell the biggest tale. The Loboes had just three in the first half, but committed eight in the third quarter and 15 for the game. Maple Valley had 10 in the first half, but just 13 for the game.

L-L-M, which improved to 2-0 and goes to Lisbon on Thursday, was held to just 16 second-half points.

“In the first half, we were attacking the basket,” Thielges said. “We were playing more cautious in the second half.”

LaMoure-Litchville-Marion 56, Maple Valley 54

LLM 17 40 45 56

MV 12 25 41 54

LLM—Brady Thielges 22, Anthony Olson 17, Drew Thielges 10, Jared Meiklejohn 4, Kenny Hodem 2, Nolan Alber 1. Totals 22-48 8-22 55.

MV—Jordan Haselau 30, James Richman 14, Brady Behm 8, Eliot Preston 2. Totals 17-31 6-9 54.

Records: LLM 2-0, MV 0-1.

Sun sportswriter Chris Aarhus can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by email at caarhus@jamestownsun.com

Tags: class b, sports, basketball