Stars in the corral

Prologue
Trying to get in the small schools is always fun.  Also fun to visit Maranatha and their large concessions setup for a MCAA showdown with Southwest Christian.  Great to catch up with Stars coach (and all time leading scorer) Kit Avery and talk about the old days of the MCAA.  Its fitting with Bethany not having a varsity team this year and SW Christian leaving the league after this season for the Minnesota River.  Its cheese pizza and Sprite on the menu but the meal deal means the Fritos are free.  That's not a bad thing.  Today's song is a random selection as I can't quite get there cause they've all forsaken me.

Song of the Day: KT Tunstall - Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
Number of Teams I've Seen: 113 (94 games, 50 days, 34 buildings, 16 online)

Beverage Ticker: 653.4 ounces (7320 Calories)

• Pepsi: 214.7 ounces (2680 calories)
• Coke: 129.8 ounces (1540 calories) 
• Dr. Pepper: 36 ounces (450 calories)
• Sprite Zero: 20 ounces (0 calories) 
• Sprite: 136.9 ounces (1620 calories) 
• 7 Up: 12 ounces (140 calories)
• Red Gatorade: 60 ounces (420 calories)  
• Red Powerade: 20 ounces (130 calories) 
• A&W Root Beer: 24 ounces (340 calories)

Food Ticker:

• Hot Dogs: 16
• Walking Tacos: 4
• Pizza: 16
• Chipotle: 1 (thanks to Bethel staff)

Game Time:
Maranatha jumps out to a lead and keeps it there.  They are all over the offensive glass for a couple of early putback and an 8-0 lead just over 2 minutes in.  Double figure scorer Hunter Wight with an early 2nd foul and has to sit for the Stars.  But there's still firepower left and Max Steensland with a long 2 and a floater to pull Southwest Christian within 15-12 at the 12:23 mark.  Beijan Newbern with a couple of hoops and the lead expands to 26-16 at the 9:15 mark.  Southwest Christian digs out their trusty matchup zone and that slows the pace.  Anders Olson comes off the bench with a couple of hoops and a block on Newbern.  Stars within 29-26 with just over 5 minutes left in the half.  Newbern steals and scores but Steensland counters with a freebie and a deep triple.  3 free throws to end the half put Maranatha up 38-31 at the break.

Newbern getting it going in the 2nd half with a hoop and then a 3 point play after a blocked shot.  That quickly pushes the lead to 12.  But the Stars won't go away.  Nathan Schwarz cleans up a mess with a 3 and drives for 2 free throws to keep the margin at 8.  Olson adds 2 bunnies around 2 missed Maranatha free throws.  55-51 Maranatha leads inside of 10 minutes left.  But Newbern knocks down a 3 via a quality possession and extra pass to find him in the left corner.  Then he steals a pass on the other ends and takes that for a dunk.  The Stars turn it over and its Newbern with the assist on the finish.  That pushes the lead back to 11 and happened in about 45 seconds so blink and you miss it.  The Stars hit a couple of 3s and are within 10 with 2 minutes left.  But the Stars ending is sloppy and the Mustangs clown around to push the final margin to 78-61.

Post Game
For Southwest Christian, Max Steensland finishes with 2 triples and 15 points.  Jalen and Hunter Wight combine for 15 so they were held down.  Anders Olson limited but effective minutes and 8 points inside.  Similar to what we saw from Cossy Kowoutu of South last night.  The Stars did have moments were they had difficulty keeping Maranatha off the glass.  But particularly later in the 1st half, they had that fixed and gobbled up the Maranatha missed jumpers or inside forces.  But they ran out of gas down the stretch.  The Stars fall to 7-6 overall, 3-2 in MCAA play.  They visit PACT and host Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity next week as league play continues.

Beijan Newbern leads Maranatha with 26 points.  He scored 14 of those in the 2nd half.  He had a couple of dangerous moments on the break where he was almost under cut (had 1 hard landing) but was OK and did make both hoops.  His shot wasn't there (4-10 FTs) but his open 3 when the game got down to 4 was clutch.  Hakim Daniels as always was active inside.  He had 11 of his 19 points in the 1st half.  Clarence Daniels adds 11.  They go as their activity level goes but the SW Christian zone showed that a half court game is not the way they want to play.  Maranatha improves to 10-5 and they remained undefeated in league play at 5-0.  But a tough stretch awaits in the 2nd half of the league schedule.  They are at Lester Prairie on Tuesday and then host the next 2 teams in the MCAA standings, New Life and St. Croix Prep.