The Austin Packer boys came off a two-week break to score a big win Tuesday over Rochester John Marshall, 74-47.
After building a 22-point lead at halftime, the Packers cruised to their second conference win. Joe Aase had 18 points, Zach Fadness 13, Tom Aase 12, Zach Wessels 6, Jay Ettinger 5, Max Coffey 5, Andrew Kaiser 5, Matt Duren 4, Nate Weisert 2, Quinn Yocum 2 and Goliath Oboyo 2.
In other conference action, Century beat Mankato West 60-52, Winona edged Mayo 55-46 and Owatonna stopped Albert Lea 86-53. Faribault beat Waseca 75-57 in a non-conference contest.
Next up for the Packers are the Rochester Mayo Spartans on Friday in Packer Gym, where it will be Parents Night.
For a while it wasn’t close, as the Packers fell behind 23-7, but then the Pack rallied to cut the deficit to 6 at halftime. Austin got as close as 1 in the second half, and had the ball near the end with a chance to tie (or win with a three), but fell just short of completing the rally.
Let’s go to the tape…
Given the closeness of the game, and the relative low score (53-39), I included all the Packers’ made free throws this time.
Here are the Austin Daily Herald and Post-Bulletin accounts of the game. Joe Aase had 14 for the Packers, followed by Matt Duren (10), Zach Wessels (9), Tom Aase (7), Jay Ettinger (6) and Andrew Kaiser (3).
The Pack will try to get back on the winning track on Tuesday, Jan. 4 when they travel to Rochester to take on John Marshall.
A slow first half in which they managed just 19 points put the Austin Packers down by 11. Then a 5-0 run by Winona to start the second half put the Packers in a hole that was just too big. Although they battled hard for the rest of the game, they could get no closer than 10. The final score was 65-46.
As is our practice, here is a more comprehensive set of video highlights. Unfortunately, thanks to the social cluelessness of some younger Winona players, the camera view of an early 3-pointer by Zach Fadness was obstructed. But here’s the best of the rest:
Joe Aase had 15 points for the Pack, Matt Duren 12, Tom Aase 8, Zach Wessels 6 and Zach Fadness 5.
Next up is New Prague on Tuesday night in Packer Gym.
The Packers went on the road last night for their Big Nine conference opener, and came away with a convincing 82-50 win over Faribault.
Pressure defense and hot outside shooting, including 10 three-pointers in the first half, got the Austin boys out to an early 23-13 lead, which they stretched to 42-27 at halftime. The Pack scored first in the second half and never looked back.
Ten Packers got into the scoring act, led by Joe Aase (17), Zach Wessels (14) and Zach Fadness (11), followed closely by Tom Aase (9), Max Coffey (8), Andrew Kaiser (8) and Jay Ettinger (7). Colin Weisert (4), Matt Duren (2) and Goliath Oboyo (2). The Packers were also perfect (6-6) from the free throw line.
Here are the highlights. Note the expression of dismay at the Packers’ shooting by the Faribault coach just before halftime.
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