Perham boys 2nd at Worthington

By news@perhamfocus.com

December 30, 2007 at 11:00 PM

By Les Knutson

Worthington Daily Globe

The event is dubbed as the Daily Globe-Trojan Holiday Classic, and make no mistake about it, Friday's championship game between Perham and Mankato West was indeed a classic.

After defenses dictated the tempo of the game for the first 26 minutes, the contest turned into a wild 3-point shootout between Perham's Sam Rutten and West's Derek Cattrysse.

In the end, Mankato West, after leading most of the game, prevailed, winning by a final score of 61-57.

The victory improves the Scarlets to 4-2 on the young season and gave West its fourth straight Holiday Classic boys' basketball championship.

Cattrysse, who dished off 12 assists and scored 13 points in the Scarlets' 77-57 victory over Coon Rapids in Thursday's semifinals, fired in three consecutive 3-pointers during a 70-second stretch of the championship game, as West kept pace with the Yellowjackets - who were suddenly scoring nearly every time down the floor.

"We played great defense, which kept us in the game," Cresap said after the contest. "Then all of the sudden, Rutten got hot and we found Jacob (Hunter) for some easy baskets and we were rolling."

With West holding a 35-29 lead with 11:07 to play in the second half, neither team scored for more than a minute as the pace of the game had slowed.

Then Rutten rifled in a long-range shot that started a 10-0 run by the Yellowjackets.

Rutten had only scored five points in the first half, as most of his shots were just off the mark.

"He can get in the zone when he starts hitting," explained Cresap. "Our guys did a great job of finding him and things got exciting."

Rutten's 3-pointer cut the Scarlet lead to 35-32 with 9:50 showing on the game clock.

Perham's Kyle Mickelson (12 points, nine assists) found Rutten again, who delivered another 3-pointer, giving the Yellowjackets their first lead since they held a 12-11 edge at the 8:48 mark of the first half.

Leading 37-35, with 8:27 to play, and with momentum on its side, Perham struck quickly again, as Mickelson scooped up a loose rebound and fired downcourt to Rutten for a lay-up.

After leading most of the game, the Scarlets were now down four, 39-35. Boone had seen enough and called time with 7:41 showing.

Following the West timeout, Scarlet all-around athlete Ray Teachout drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner, giving his team their first points in nearly four minutes.

The pace, and the scoring, continued to pick up.

Perham still led, 39-38, when Hunter scored again and was quickly matched by West's Mike Richter, making the score 41-40 with 6:13 to play.

Rutten then took another long pass from Johnson and buried his third trey of the second half (fourth of the game) to lift the Yellowjackets to a 44-40 lead at the 6:01 mark.

That's when Cattrysse began his streak. His first 3-pointer brought his team back to within one.

Rutten answered with another 3-pointer, increasing the Yellowjacket lead to 47-43.

Cattrysse quickly responded with a trey of his own - and again, the Perham lead was just one. The Scarlets then scored on the inbounds play, which gave the lead back to West, 48-47 with 4:51 left.

Following a Perham turnover, Cattryse delivered his third 3-pointer of the surge and the Scarletrs held a four-point cushion.

Hunter quickly responded with a power move to the hoop, trimming the lead to two. A rebound basket by Mike Richter put West back up four (53-49) with 3:56 to play.

After an exchange of turnovers, Rutten took another pass from Mickelson and scored in the lane, bringing the Yellowjackets back to within two points again.

At the 2:44 mark, Teachout buried a two-pointer and West led, 55-51. Thirty-two seconds later, Mickelson found Hunter in the lane and the score was 55-53.

West took advantage of another break, getting a chance to inbound the ball under their basket again.

Following a timeout, the Scarlets ran a well-designed play and again Knutson scored off the pass from Cattryse and with 1:46 to play, the lead was back to four, 57-53.

A great offensive rebound basket by Perham's Marcus Hendrickson (eight points, nine rebounds) brought his team to within two again at the 1:20 mark.

After another Scarlet score, Hendrickson, who has a full football scholarship (as a quarterback) to the University of North Dakota, scored on a reverse lay-up, after another offensive rebound, and with 20 seconds to play the Scarlet lead was trimmed to 59-57.

Eleven seconds later, West sophomore Preston Brunz was fouled and calmly sank both ends of a one-and-one, clinching the exciting four-point victory for the Scarlets.

"It was just a tremendous game," declared Cresap. "We came up four points short, but what an effort by our kids to play right with a quality team like Mankato West."

Perham (3-3) was led by Rutten's 21 points (16 in the second half), while Hunter scored all 10 of his points in the second half and also pulled down seven rebounds.

Win over Worthington

Holding Worthington scoreless for the game's first five-and-a-half minutes and later stretching a 24-20 halftime edge into a 40-25 lead over the initial nine minutes of the second half Thursday night, the Perham Yellowjackets boys' basketball team gained a 55-40 victory over the Trojans in the first round of the 10th Annual Daily Globe-Trojan Holiday Classic.

Perham, which was coming off an impressive 63-23 victory over Barnesville last Friday night, established the game's defensive tone early and often -- limiting the Trojans to just 20 points in each half.

"Our defense is our trademark, and we really got after it and played hard tonight," Cresap said afterwards. "Our intensity and man-to-man pressure were both superb, and we also rebounded well."

"Perham is always a tough defensive team, and we didn't shoot well tonight," Worthington head coach Ron Vorwald said. "We need to put the ball in the hole more often and improve our offensive execution."

Baskets by Rutten, Ben Bucholtz and Johnson produced a 6-0 lead for the Yellowjackets with 13:22 to play.

Mike Vorwald (14 points, five assists) got the Trojans on the scoreboard with a nifty drive through the lane with 12:33 left before drilling a three-pointer from the right wing on an assist by Matt King -- pulling Worthington within one (6-5) with just under 12 minutes remaining.

Perham answered with an 8-0 surge over the next two minutes, as Bucholtz (15 points) fired in back-to-back high-arching three-pointers from well beyond the top of the key and an 18-footer on the left wing to trigger the Yellowjackets to a 14-5 lead with 9:25 to go.

A 3-pointer by Rutten (15 points, four assists) -- off a penetrate-and-kick assist by Johnson -- later gave the Yellowjackets a 19-7 lead with 6:04 remaining.

Perham widened its lead to 15 points (24-9) by the 3:29 mark, but the Trojans responded with an 11-0 scoring burst to close the half, trimming the Yellowjackets' lead to 24-20 at halftime.

The Trojans, though, didn't score a point until the 13:36 mark of the second half, and the Yellowjackets regained a double-digit advantage (31-21) on five points fromMickelson (3-pointer in the left corner and two free throws) and a reverse layup along the baseline by Rutten.

Perham increased its lead to 35-21 two minutes later on a runner in the lane by Rutten and a 10-foot turnaround jumper on the right baseline by Marcus Hendrickson (13 rebounds, six points, three steals).

Rutten swished a three-pointer from the right corner at the nine-minute mark to give the Yellowjackets a 40-25 lead and later connected from the same spot to make it 43-25 with 6:24 remaining.

"We were able to put together a few offensive spurts, which was key going against a strong defensive team like Worthington," Cresap said. "We moved the ball well and executed on some of the things that we like to do."

New Year

Perham will return to Heart O' Lakes action Jan. 4 when they host West Central Area at Prairie Wind Gymnasium. The Knights (5-1, 3-1 HOL) have won three of the last four against Perham, including both games last season.

Next week, the Jackets will travel to Hawley on Jan. 8 to take on the No. 8-AA Nuggets (4-0, 3-0 HOL), then head up Hwy. 10 again on Jan. 10 to face Frazee in the Battle of the Bees. The Hornets (1-5, 1-4 HOL) are trying to beat Perham for the first time in more than a decade.

(The Worthington Daily Globe and EOT Illustrated are both owned by Forum Communications.)

Worthington Tournament

Thursday, December 27

Perham 55, Worthington 40

Perham 24-31--55

Worthington 20-20--40

Jackets--Sam Rutten 15, Ben Bucholz 15, Kyle Mickelson 7, Marcus Hendrickson 6, Todd Johnson 5, Jacob Hunter 3, Anthony Ruther 2, Nick Dockter 2.

Worthington--Vorwald 14, Knutson 12, Ahrens 8, King 4, Meinders 2.

Field Goals--P 14, W 12; 3-pointers--P 6, W 2; Free Throws--P 9, W 10.

Friday, December 28

Mankato West 61, Perham 57

Perham 21-36--57