With seniors Brandon Roiko, Andrew Skoog and Andrew Pederson sidelined with the flu, Menahga head coach Dan Kotaska was looking for his underclassmen to pick up the scoring slack in Tuesday night's boys basketball game against Nevis.
Five juniors and a sophomore rose to the challenge by combining for 53 points. That effort wasn't enough as Nevis used a 24-3 run to end the game for an 84-63 victory at Menahga in the regular-season finale for both teams.
The Braves played well for the first 30 minutes and held a 60-57 lead with 6:43 to play. But Nevis went on a 10-0 run to take the lead for good before ending the game with a 13-0 spurt.
Matthew Lien started the Tigers game-winning run with two free throws and with a steal that led to a layup by Blaze Bellomo. Bellomo followed with a basket off a rebound, Lien hit a short jumper and Anthony Prendiz hit a jumper as the Tigers led 67-60 with 3:30 to go.
Dan Maninga's layup off a steal kept the Braves within 67-62 with 3:11 left, but Nevis sealed the win with a 17-1 run.
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Layups by Prendiz and Danny Campbell gave Nevis a 71-62 lead with 2:49 to play before Eric Skoog hit a free throw for Menahga. A layup by Lien, a basket off a rebound by Nolan Toft, two layups by Bellomo, and a basket off a rebound by Ben Skinness concluded the scoring for the Tigers.
The first half of this game between Section 6A East rivals featured five lead chances and four ties.
A layup by Maninga, a 3-pointer and jumper by Levi Tormanen and a jumper by Jake Sumner gave Menahga a 9-3 lead before the Tigers went on a 17-2 run. Taylor Schroeder hit a pair of jumpers and Lien had a pair of layups during that stretch. A three-point play by Prendiz and layups by Skinness, Campbell and Bellomo gave the Tigers a 20-11 lead with 9:49 to play in the first half.
Jumpers by Dan Towers and Joshua Redetzke started a 16-3 run by the Braves. Towers hit a pair of 3-pointers and Brady Junes and Tormanen scored inside to give Menahga a 27-23 advantage with 5:51 left.
A basket off a rebound by Skinness and a layup by Lien gave the Tigers a 31-29 edge before jumpers by Towers and Tormanen and a basket off a rebound by Sumner led to a 37-31 Menahga lead. Prendiz scored off a rebound and Bellomo hit a jumper at the buzzer as Nevis closed the deficit to 37-36 at the intermission.
A 3-pointer by Tormanen and a jumper by Skoog to open the second half extended the Braves' advantage to 42-36.
After Prendiz countered with a 3-pointer, Junes scored inside for a 45-39 lead. Toft scored off a rebound and Lien scored on a layup as the Tigers made it 45-43, but another 3-pointer by Tormanen and a layup by Sumner gave Menahga a 50-43 edge.
The Tigers responded as Toft hit two baskets, Campbell connected on a jumper, Prendiz nailed another 3-pointer and Lien scored inside. That gave Nevis a 54-51 lead with 8:27 to play.
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Two inside baskets by Sumner, a 3-pointer by Towers and a layup by Maninga rallied Menahga to a 60-57 lead with 6:43 to play before Nevis took control down the stretch.
Lien led the Tigers with 24 points while Prendiz added 18 points. Bellomo also hit double figures with 13 points as the Tigers ended the regular season with a 7-18 record.
Tormanen scored 19 points, Towers added 13 points and Sumner finished with 10 points as the Braves fell to 6-19 on the season.
NEVIS: Lien 8 8-10 24, Schroeder 3 1-2 7, Skinness 3 0-0 6, Campbell 4 0-0 8, Prendiz 4-6 18, Bellomo 6 1-2 13, Toft 4 0-1 8. Totals: 34 (FG), 14 of 21 (FT).
MENAHGA: Tormanen 7 2-2 19, E. Skoog 1 2-4 4, Junes 2 1-4 5, Sumner 5 0-0 10, Maninga 3 2-2 8, Towers 5 0-0 13, Redetzke 2 0-2 4. Totals: 25 (FG), 7 of 14 (FT).
Halftime: Menahga 37, Nevis 36. Three-point field goals: Prendiz 2, Tormanen 3, Towers 3.
