S-M's Riewer player of year

The All-Mid-State Conference boys' basketball team was announced Monday with Staples-Motley's Jordan Riewer claiming the play of the year award.

Riewer finished the regular season with 381 points (14.7 per game), 215 assists (8.3), 188 rebounds (7.2), 91 steals (3.5) and 10 blocked shots, while shooting 49.6 percent from the field and 85.5 percent from the line. Those numbers helped the senior point guard lead the Cardinals to a tie for the conference championship with the Crosby-Ironton Rangers. Each team finished with 9-1 records in conference play.

The head coaches for both those teams - Dave Galovich (Crosby-Ironton) and Lynn Peterson (Staples-Motley) were named coaches of the year.

Players named to this year's all-conference team were Crosby-Ironton senior guard Matthew Hudrlik and senior forwards Brock Tesdahl and Mark Hoge. Pequot Lakes senior guard Michael Goerges and junior forward Kurtis Moody, Staples-Motley senior forward Derek Wolhowe and senior center Jon Bristow, Wadena-Deer Creek senior guard Scott Syverson and senior forward Ryan Nelson along with Detroit Lakes senior Tyler Fode and junior Josh Stalberger.

Honorable mention honors were given to Crosby-Ironton's Tyler Dickie (senior, point guard), Sam Baker (senior, forward), Pequot Lakes' Michael Ward (senior, center), Staples-Motley's Jordan Peterson (senior, guard) and Jason Johnson (senior, forward) and Wadena-Deer Creek's Jordan Reed (junior, center). Detroit Lakes' Brian Labat (sophomore) and Park Rapids' Paul Dirks (senior) also made the list.

Detroit Lakes finished with 5-5 conference record followed by Pequot Lakes (4-6), Wadena-Deer Creek (3-7) and Park Rapids (0-10). and deep. NL-S will look to push the ball and play full-court defense. They are led by Tengwall (6-foot-1, senior) and Jayme Moten (5-10, junior) who scored 23 points against Albany. Aaron Johnson (6-6, senior) added 21 points and 16 rebounds in the subsection final. Justin Zylstra, Brandon Zylstra and Aaron Jenny played key roles in the win.

Peterson thinks his team is pretty balanced and deep, too.

"We're just going to try and give ourselves a chance," he said. "We match up fairly well with them. They are very explosive, no doubt about that. Anybody that is left in this tournament is very good.

"For us, going into the Breck, Morris and this game we're trying to keep it simple. We're trying to keep our man in front of us and not get beat off the dribble. We're trying to block out and get the rebounds. If we do that we give ourselves a chance."

The Cardinals have given themselves a chance in 17 of their last 18 games. Their only tough loss in that time was to Class 3A's fourth-ranked Grand Rapids Feb. 23. Since then they have rattled off seven straight wins.

"They are very well-coached with experienced players and will certainly be well prepared," Cordes said of the Cardinals. "Both teams match up very well with each other. S-M can play and score in a variety of ways. The bottom line is we will have our hands full Friday night."

JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.