Panthers go 0-2 at Blue Earth

Published 12:00 am Sunday, December 30, 2001

BLUE EARTH – Coach Matt Eppen liked a lot of what he saw from the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva boys’ basketball team Friday night.

Sunday, December 30, 2001

BLUE EARTH – Coach Matt Eppen liked a lot of what he saw from the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva boys’ basketball team Friday night.

Email newsletter signup

There just wasn’t quite enough of it.

The Panthers were inconsistent, according to Eppen, while falling 56-46 to the host team in the consolation finals of the Blue Earth Area Invitational.

&uot;We’ve got to learn to play 32 minutes,&uot; said Eppen, whose team lost 64-38 to Madelia/Truman in the opening round. &uot;We play well in stretches. It just seems like when we’ve had chances to put games away the last two nights, we haven’t. The key for us is to keep getting better every week.&uot;

Zak Tracy led the Panthers Friday with 12 points. Isaiah Lundberg scored 11, Michael Hullopeter eight, Bjorn Peterson five, Dusty Davis four, Kyle Utpadel three and Tim Tappe three. Peterson and Tappe each had nine rebounds.

The Panthers outrebounded the Bucs 33-25 but had troubles shooting, going 17-for-57 from the floor and 9-for-15 on free throws. NRHEG had nine turnovers, BEA 14.

The Panthers, 2-0 in the Gopher Conference, fell to 3-6 overall while the Bucs improved to 4-3.