The Southwest Christian Stars hosted the Chanhassen Storm for a boys varsity basketball game on Thursday, Dec. 11.
The Stars started sophomore Talbot Jones, junior Jameson McCarthy, seniors Jack Burke, Adam Dye and Dylan Koepp. Chanhassen started sophomore Isaac Johnson, junior Benett Barger, and seniors Kolby Christl, Matthew Daly and Cam Wolf.
The Storm had the first points, but after a few minutes Southwest Christian took the lead. With 6:40 to play in the first half, Chanhassen regained the lead momentarily, with the score at 21-20.
Two free throws by Wyatt Fiedler put Southwest Christian in the lead by 1, but Chanhassen’s Christl answered with a field goal to take the lead back, and Southwest Christian took a timeout. Coming back from the timeout, Chanhassen increased their lead as the half closed, despite Southwest Christian’s Jack Burke making four three-pointers as part of the 16 points he contributed to the Stars’ 31 points in the first half.
Christl had 18 points in the first half, and made six successful free throws, while Benett Barger contributed 13 points to Chanhassen’s 41 points in the first half.
Both teams scored quickly in the second half, but Chanhassen held the lead and the Stars worked hard to catch up, with tensions mounting with just under 10 minutes to play. The Storm were called for two charges and given a bench warning while the score stood with them in the lead, 56-53.
Southwest Christian’s Carter Lawrence put in a three-pointer and tied the game at 59 with 5:34 to go. Chanhassen answered, regaining the lead, but Southwest Christian was still fighting, with Jameson McCarthy stepping up with field goals and Jones hitting five of six free throws in the second half.
With 2:25 to go, Chanhassen was up by eight points. Burke put in back to back three-pointers, and the score was 70-72 with just over a minute to play. Christl added another field goal for Chanhassen with 16 seconds left in the game.
Southwest Christian’s Dylan Koepp put in his second three-pointer of the game, bringing the Stars back within a point. Chanhassen had the ball coming out of a timeout with just over six seconds to play, forcing Southwest Christian to foul. Chanhassen’s Loghan Gustad went to the line, made one of two free throws and the Stars took a timeout with 5.5 seconds left in the game. The Stars inbounded the ball to Burke, who was well guarded by Christl and Gustad, and was not able to make the three-pointer. The Storm won the game with a final score of 75-73.
Chanhassen had two players in double digits, Christl with 35 points, including 7 of 7 free throws, and Barger with 21. Southwest Christian had Burke with 32, including 8 three-pointers, and McCarthy with 12.
Next home games:
– Chanhassen: Dec. 22 vs. Prior Lake
– Southwest Christian: Jan. 3 vs. St. Peter
