Austin defeated Owatonna Friday night in Big Nine conference action, posting a 67-46 win in Packer Gym.
The Packers used smothering defense and hot shooting to build a 29-12 halftime lead and stretched it to 50-17 early in the second half. They had four players in double figures: Zach Wessels with 17, Joe Aase 16, Ajuda Nywesh 11 and Collin Weisert with 10. Tom Aase had 6, Gach Gach 5 and Bret Lukes 2 to round out the scoring.
The Austin Packers traveled to La Crosse, Wisconsin today to play in the Pepsi Midwest Players Classic, where they defeated Westby by a 71-48 margin in the opening game of the six-game showcase.
Austin quickly built a 16-8 lead by the end of the first quarter, stretching it to 39-15 by halftime and 60-31 at the end of the third quarter.
Joe Aase led the Packers with 21 points with Tom Aase adding 13. Bret Lukes and Ajuda Nywesh each had 8, Zach Wessels 7, Gach Gach 6, Collin Weisert and Nik Gasner 3 each and Curtis Oberbroeckling 2.
Here are the highlights:
The Packers have two home games next week: Tuesday vs. Mankato East in a rematch of this game, and their first contest with Owatonna, which is currently third in the Big Nine at 5-2 and is 8-5 overall.
The Austin Packers claimed sole possession of first place in the Big Nine Conference Thursday night with an 80-77 win over Rochester John Marshall.
The Packers built a lead of as much as 19 points in the first half, but JM hit a half-court buzzer beater to trim the lead to 46-32 at halftime. In the second half JM fought back to within five points with 26.8 seconds remaining, but Austin’s Joe Aase converted both halves of a one-and-one to seal the victory.
Joe’s 34 points (including 8 three-pointers) made him the all-time leading career scorer in Austin High boys basketball history at 1,065. Zach Wessels added 23 points, Ajuda Nywesh 12, Bret Lukes 6 and Tom Aase 5 in the Packer win. See the Austin Daily Herald, Rochester Post-Bulletin (and another) and KAAL-TV stories and the Rochester Post-Bulletinphoto gallery.
Here are the highlights:
The Packers, who have now won 19 straight at home, venture to La Crosse, Wisconsin on Saturday to play in the Midwest Players Classic against Westby, WI. Game time is 10:45 a.m. at the La Ctosse Center.
The Austin Packers used pressure defense to run their season record to 13-0 with at 63-38 win at Winona on Tuesday.
The Packers held the Winhawks to their season low point total, allowing just 20 points in the first half and 18 in the second. See the Winona Daily News recap and the Austin Daily Herald coverage. Here are the highlights:
Tom Aase led the Packers in scoring with 17 points, while Ajuda Nywesh had 12, Zach Wessels 11, Bret Lukes 7, Joe Aase 6, Collin Weisert 4 and Gach Gach and Nik Gasner 3 each.
Next up for the Packers: the first-place showdown with Rochester John Marshall, currently 12-2 overall and tied with the Packers atop the Big Nine at 7-0.
The Austin Packers came into Friday night’s game having had some good wins against teams like Edina, New Prague and Eastview, but they hadn’t put together a complete game.
Until now.
The Packers, who had started slowly in several games, got off to a 15-2 start and never looked back, rolling to a 74-24 win over Rochester Century in Packer Gym. The win was Austin’s 18th in a row at home and ran their season record to 12-0, 6-0 in the Big Nine.
Joe Aase, who was presented a game ball by Coach Kris Fadness before the game in recognition of reaching the 1,000-point career scoring mark Tuesday at Faribault, led the Packers’ scoring against Century with 20 points. Zach Wessels added 15, Tom Aase 9, Bret Lukes 8, Ajuda Nywesh and Collin Weisert 5 each; Ben Bumgarner, Gach Gach and Jacob Kempen each had a 3, while Curtis Oberbroeckling with 2 and Zach Coffey with 1 rounded out the scoring. Century’s 6’10” center Carter Evans, who will play for Division II Northern State next year, had 14 points for the Panthers.
Next up for the Packers are the Winona Winhawks on the road on Tuesday. Their next home game is Thursday against Rochester John Marshall. The Rockets are 11-2 on the year and tied with the Packers atop the Big Nine standings.
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