Lynx use 2nd-quarter scoring spree to topple Mitchell

For the first time since January 2016, a Mitchell Kernels boys basketball team surpassed the 60-point mark in a game, but that wasn’t enough Thursday night, as it was the visiting Lynx who came away with the 73-62 victory.

The Lynx stifled the Kernels in the second quarter, out-scoring them 23-10, which proved to be the difference in this meeting between the two ESD Conference squads.

Lynx head coach Brent Deckert said that while his team came out with a win, they didn’t play their best game or move the ball as well as he’d like to see them do.

“We do things really, really well for 45 seconds and the things we screw up in five seconds, cost us,” he said.

The teams played even ball in the first quarter, with the Lynx earning the two-point advantage, 13-11 at the quarter’s end.

Brandon Valley stepped up their game play on both sides of the ball in the second to out-score the Kernels 23-10, and the effort was largely geared by Evan Talcott, who finished with a team-high 16 points. BV’s pesky one-man full-court press resulted in a plethora of Mitchell turnovers and the Lynx were able to convert them into easy baskets. By the half, BV held a 36-21 advantage.

The Kernels trailed by as many as 18 points in the second half, but were inspired by freshman standout Caden Hinker, who scored 14 of his career-high 27 points – in the fourth frame that included four of his seven 3-pointers.

BV had the advantage in the post, however, which translated into easy layups for the Lynx.

“We’re just trying to get to the point where we go out and run and not turn it over,” Deckert said, “because when you give up three second-chance shots, pretty soon someone buries a three; that’s a rule in basketball.”

Senior Carter Olthoff matched Talcott’s 16 points, and his offensive production largely came in the second half, as the Kernels’ Kaden Soukup limited Talcott to four points in the second half.

Seniors Cole Siegfried, Ethan Rasmussen and Alex Tietjen supplied 21 points combined. Junior Gavin Terhark added eight points and Jackson Hilton accounted for seven.

“A strength of our team, and I’ll keep saying it, is the maturity level in our group of seniors,” Deckert said. “They love to compete and the only thing we have to continue to work on is being a team.”

Along with Hinker’s 27 points for Mitchell, Carter Jacobsen had 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

BV had a slight disadvantage on the boards, 25-19. Both Olthoff and Talcott had five apiece and Tietjen was responsible for three. Olthoff, Talcott and sophomore Aydin Lloyd all accounted for two of the team’s 10 assists. Olthoff and Hilton both had two steals on the night, and Talcott got a hand on two blocks.

BV limited their turnovers to a mere four, while the Lynx defense had a hand in Mitchell’s 17.  

“Everybody that we called on last night did their job and played well,” Deckert said, “and those things were the difference-makers.”

The Lynx return to the Sanford Pentagon for the Hoop City Classic at 6:30 p.m. Saturday to face Rochester (Minn.) John Marshall. Deckert expects his team will have their hands full with their senior power forward, 6-foot-8 Matthew Hurt. BV then takes a break until after the new year, when they host a trio of games, starting Jan. 4 with Brookings.

Brandon Valley                13 36 48 73

Mitchell 11 21 36 62

Brandon Valley (2PFG, 3PFG, FT, TP): Carter Olthoff 8-11 0-2 0-1 16; Nate Keegan 1-2 1-1 0-0 5; Ethan Rasmussen 1-1 1-1 1-2 6; Caden Johnson 0-0 0-1 0-0 0; Cole Siegfried 2-3 0-0 5-8 9; Joe Kolbeck 0-0 0-1 0-0 0; Eli Peyton 0-0 0-0 0-0 0; Evan Talcott 5-5 2-4 0-0 16; Alex Tietjen 2-3 0-0 2-3 6; Jackson Hilton 3-5 0-3 1-2 7; Gavin Terhark 4-5 0-0 0-0 8; Aydin Lloyd 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-35 4-13 9-16 74.