Tom VanErp's Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines continued to sharpen their claws against tough competition Tuesday night as they fell to state-ranked Park Christian 73-69.
The Wolverines held a 41-31 halftime lead but could not match the Falcons at the foul line. The host team went 13 of 17 at the foul stripe while the Wolverines canned just seven of 16 attempts.
The loss was WDC's fifth in their last six games. Four of those losses have been by five points or less.
"You aren't going to beat good teams going 7 of 17 from the line," VanErp noted.
The Wolverines had a good night from the field making 51 percent of their field goals. Four players reached double figures with Ryan Nelson and Jordan Reed netting 18, Scott Syverson scoring 16 and Kevin Tumberg scoring 10. Syverson made all four of WDC's three-pointers.
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The Falcons, who are ranked fifth in Class A, hauled down 13 offensive rebounds against the Wolverines. The Falcons out-rebounded the Wolverines 36-25 and VanErp credited their board work to keeping them in the game.
"We would play a very good series defensively, force a poor shot and then give up an easy basket or an offensive rebound," VanErp said.
Tom Schwandt paced the Falcons with 20 points while Bret Harmerlink, Drew Eggers, Isaac Berge added 15, 14 and 13 points respectively. The Falcons shot 47 percent from the floor.
The loss left the Wolverines with a 9-13 record. The Falcons are now 20-3.
WADENA-DEER CREEK (69)
S. Syverson 16, J.D. Olson, K. Tumberg 10, R. Nelson 18, J. Reed 18, A. Kern 5, D. Hoffman 2. Totals: 25/4 7-16 69
PARK CHRISTIAN (73)
J. Fletcher 9, T. Schwandt 20, B. Harmelink 15, I. Berge 13, D. Eggers 14, Mike Murphy 2. Totals: 24/4 13-17 73
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Wadena-Deer Creek 41 28 - 69
Park Christian 31 42 - 73
Detroit Lakes 74, WDC 69
Josh Stalberger tacked up 19 points as the Detroit Lakes Lakers squeaked out a 74-69 Mid-State Conference win Friday night over the Wolverines.
The 6-4 forward was the difference as he scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half.
"Stalberger is very athletic, a good leaper and can hit the outside jump shot. He is very hard to defend when DL's guards are hitting shots," WDC head coach Tom VanErp said.
Detroit Lakes guards Rick Hutchinson and Connor McLeod combined to give the Lakers 21 points from the perimeter. The Lakers went into the half with a 30-25 lead.
Jordan Reed paced the Wolverines with 16 points while Ryan Nelson scored 15. Guards Kevin Tumberg and Scott Syverson combined for 17 tallies.
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The loss was WDC's fourth in the last five games. Three of the losses have been by five points or less.
"In close games it's come down to a few turnovers here and there, a missed free throw or a made shot by our opponent," VanErp said. "We need to work to get better at the little things."
WADENA-DEER CREEK (69)
S. Syverson 8, J.D. Olson, K. Tumberg 9, R. Nelson 15, T. Byman 2, C. Tumberg 4, I. Toedter 5, J. Reed 18, A. Kern 6, G. Kellogg 2. Totals: 20/7 8-11 69
DETROIT LAKES (74)
C. Hedstrom 7, J. Mollberg 4, T. Fode 9, C. McLeod 10, R. Hutchinson 11, B. Labat 6, J. Stalberger 19, A. Guetter 8. Totals: 18/4 16-27 74
Wadena-Deer Creek 35 34 - 69
Detroit Lakes 40 34 - 74
