MINNETONKA -- The Tip-Off couldn’t have opened up with a more exciting open floor contest than the Wildcats against the Trojans.  Considering the teams woke up and traveled several miles from the west to Minnetonka they were surprisingly awake and alert when the ball was tipped off, at least offensively. 

The active frontcourt tandem of John Clark and Joey Cuperus used their agility to attack the paint for a combined 17 points in the first half.  Eleven came from Clark whose agility gave the Wildcats fits especially on the offensive glass.  Clark also ran the floor for scores as Sebeka looked to push each and every time they had their hands on the basketball.  Junior guard Cody Pulju and senior wing Alex Brockpahler consistently scored on transition and Pulju showed off his pull jump stroke hitting five times.

New London-Spicer started well but bad decisions with the basketball began to hurt their cause playing into the Sebeka up-tempo style of play.  When the Wildcats were able to slow the momentum they went low to Aaron “Moose” Johnson who trudged his way to six first half field goals and 15 first half points.  But twice they found themselves playing catch-up because of miscues and the class AA number one squad was down 41-33 at the break. 

As productive as the offenses were in the first half the first ten minutes of the second half was a frantic festival of turnovers.  The Wildcats went on a 20-7 run over that period of time but even they were driving their coaches crazy with bad decisions. 

A Jayme Moten three-pointer seemed to open the gap for the Wildcats but a Sebeka time-out calmed their troops and helped them take the lead.  Cuperus picked off a pass and attacked the other way scoring with a spin move lay-in.  Next Ryan Sharp connected on a four-point play as he made a three in the corner while being sent to the floor.  Sharp made the free throw and Sebeka gained the lead back that they held at halftime 56-55.

With two minutes to go the teams continued to grind things out with the score at 66-65 Sebeka.  Brockpahler penetrated through the Wildcat defense producing  at the rim but back the other way the Wildcats went to their moneyman once again.  Moose Johnson scored his 12th field goal of the game banging into the paint.  After turnovers were exchanged Sharp scored an open floor lay-in giving Sebeka three point lead.  Erik Tengwall missed a three pointer but the board when to Jayme Moten who sunk a pair of foul shots and it was 70-69 with eight seconds left.  New London-Spicer called a time-out and with 3.2 seconds left they rotated the basketball to Erik Tengwall who his a three-pointer in the corner to win the game 72-70.

Aaron “Moose” Johnson was named player of the game for the Wildcats scoring 27 points.  In addition Erik Tengwall and Aaron Jenny each scored 13 points.  In a losing effort all five Sebeka starters were in double figures led by the 16 from Cuperus and the 15 each from Clark and Pulju.

Aaron "Moose" Johnson

Johnson earned his nickname with a bullish inside game that Sebeka couldn't stop. He scored a game-high 27 points and was a huge factor in the Wildcats' second-half rally from eight points down.

New London-Spicer --Johnson 27, Tengwall 13, Jenny 10, Moten 8, J. Zylstra 6, B. Zylstra 6, Essler 2

Sebeka -- Pulju 17, Cuperus 15, Clark 15, Sharp 11, Brockpahler 10, Ament 2