Stars hang on for important section win

Prologue
A quiet Monday night on the schedule gives me the rare chance to see a new building.  Its a trip to opening night for the 3rd season at SW Christian's gym.  Its a section 4A matchup against Minnesota Transitions.  These teams likely in the mix of teams in that 2nd tier of the section behind Minneapolis North and Maranatha.  I love the standard MCAA setup (1 side only), tables on top, the concession stand built right there.  Have to like the window for the concessions workers to see the floor.  Bethany and Jordan coaches scouting.

Number of Teams I've Seen: 46

Beverage Consumption Counter: 296 ounces (19 days, 24 games, 2 scrimmages added on)

Pepsi: 124 ounces
Coke: 80 ounces
Sprite: 32 ounces
Barq's Root Beer: 20 ounces
Red Powerade: 40 ounces

Hot Dog Counter: 4

Song of the Day
All of the Stars - Ed Sheeran

Game Time
After the 1st 4 points, its a slop fest for MTS.  SW Christian turns a mess of turnovers into a 9-0 run to take the lead.  9-4 Stars at 13:45.  Soph Spencer Weiss 2 buckets to push the lead to 9.  MTS has a very active Curtils Gilliam off the bench. He scores a pair of buckets to help MTS cut the lead to 2 just outside of the 7 minute mark.  Then its another SW Christian run, this time 15-2.  Jack Jenson and Trey Sandness lead the run.  MTS keeps it close with a 7-0 run to end the half.  36-27 SW Christian at the break.

Gillium just out jumping everybody in the paint.  He scores 3 early hoops to keep the Wolves within 5.  SW Christian pushes the lead right back to 10 with Brady Bengston knocking down a 3 and putting back a miss.   Frosh Charles Gordon also providing a bench spark.  He scores his 4 buckets in a stretch of 5 MTS scores.  That ends an 11-4 MTS spurt to close to within 54-51 with 6 minutes left.  Jenson on the sidelines getting patched up during some of that run but he's ready to come back in.  Gilliam puts back a miss with 4:30 left and the lead is down to 2 55-53.  Jensen takes a turnover for a layup.  The teams trade free throws before Gillium cherry picks for a layup.  58-56 SW Christian with 2:09 left.  But they turn it over on a charge in the post with 1:47 left.  MTS gives it right back.  SW Christian runs clock but forces a layup that is no good with a minute left.  After a debate about a call in front of the MTS bench, MTS keeps the ball and Gillium is on the offensive board again.  58 all as we go under 30 seconds.  Jenson fouled and makes the 1st of 2.  MTS turns it over on their possession as they can't get a timeout.  SW Christian makes 1 of 2 with 15.8 left.  Last chance for MTS is tipped out with 0.2 left.  Their left corner inbound lob is a nice draw up but they don't get that tip.  SW Christian survives at home 60-58.

Post Game
MTS has a 2 game winning streak snapped.  They fall to 2-3 on the season.  They continue a 4 game road trip at International School and Blake this week.  Curtis Gilliam comes off the bench to score 16 of his 24 in the 2nd half.  Lewis McCaleb 10 of his 13 in the 1st half.  Frosh Charles Gordon all 8 of his points during the 2nd half spurt to get MTS back in it.  They'll look at this game as a missed opportunity.  Sloppy turnovers, especially early in the game and plenty of inside misses off a ton of rebounds.

SW Christian wins their 2nd straight game to improve to 2-1.  This is a nice way to build on a big conference win at Lester Prairie last Friday.  Jack Jenson and Drew Scharwz lead the way with 13 points.  The Stars manage to survive despite getting pounded on the glass.  Its a young group with only 1 senior in the main rotation to go with 4 sophs and a pair of solid junior guards.  They'll need to find offense outside of Jack Jenson and Trey Sandness.