Quantcast
skip navigation

Southwest Christian edges past Cass Lake-Bena in the Super 60 Showcase

By Trevor Squire, SportsEngine, 01/14/17, 7:00AM CST

Share

Spencer Weiss led all scorers with 22 points to lead the Stars to a 71-64 victory.




Southwest Christian’s senior guard Spencer Weiss drives and scores for the Stars in their victory over Cass Lake-Bena at the Super 60 Showdown. Photo by Brian W Nelson, SportsEngine


Playing an unfamiliar foe in Cass Lake-Bena on Saturday in the Super 60 Classic at the Lindbergh Center in Hopkins, Southwest Christian had a faint idea of what to expect from the Panthers.

“They shoot a lot of threes and they shoot them fast,” Stars coach Kit Avery said. “All of their shooters shoot with confidence.”

After the Panthers hit four 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the first half, including a pair of deep shots from Noah DeLapaz, Southwest Christian needed to make adjustments to keep pace.

“Really, until you see it in-game, it’s really hard to prepare for them,” Spencer Weiss said. “Every shot they took, they thought it was going in, and it usually did.”

Weiss surfaced as an offensive catalyst after halftime, scoring 16 of his career-high 22 points in the second half to lead the Stars to a 71-64 victory over Cass Lake-Bena, who is ranked No. 5 in Class 1A by Minnesota Basketball News.

After what was largely a one-possession game for 20 minutes that saw 11 lead changes, Southwest Christian (7-4, 2-1) began pushing the ball inside more in the latter half, which led to an 11-2 run where Weiss posted 10 points in a five minute span.

“(Weiss’s) a real blue collar guy and is a program and systems player,” Avery said. “Every single day in practice he brings it.”

Weiss is one of the tallest players on the Stars roster at 6-foot-4, and while he’s always been tall, Weiss wasn’t always as mobile of a guard before shedding 50 pounds between his freshman and sophomore year.

“It’s a little different because now I have to dribble the ball and maybe take a jump shot every once in awhile, Weiss said jokingly.

Weiss was the only member of the Stars to reach double figures, but behind a deep lineup of shooters, Southwest Christian took its first lead of the game with six minutes remaining in the first half. 

Then, there were four lead changes before Cass-Lake Bena went on a 7-0 run. DeLapaz found Ethan Brown on the perimeter for a three, and bounced a pass through two defenders on a fast break to push the Panthers (10-4, 3-3) ahead. 

The Stars fought back, with Zach Winters finding Brady Bengtson underneath the hoop for a last-second, one-touch putback off the inbound to cap a 7-1 run by Southwest Christian to tie the game at 33-all going into the break and give the Stars a platform to pull away in the second half. 

“Our boys are smart and intelligent players and made adjustments that helped us execute and piece together enough spurts going down the stretch. We still have a lot to work on,” Avery said.


Photo Gallery

Most Popular

Spotlight Game Coverage