COTTAGE GROVE — Cold shooting plagued the Stillwater boys basketball team in Suburban East Conference losses to Mounds View and Park.
The Ponies (4-7 SEC, 8-9) trailed by 10 at halftime against the Wolfpack (7-4, 9-8) and were not able to mount a serious threat before falling 73-51 on Tuesday, Jan. 30 at Park High School. Stillwater has lost four of its last five in conference play.
Miskir Esayas scored 16 points to lead four Park players with 10 or more points.
“They are a very fast team and they are tough to guard,” Ponies coach Brady Hannigan said. “They put some pressure on us defensively and they did a really good job of getting into the paint against us.”
Stillwater finished with 18 turnovers and shot just 29.7 percent on two-point field goals. The Ponies also didn’t help themselves at the free-throw line, connecting on just 7 of 17 attempts. Park, meanwhile, connected on 10 of 13 free throws.
“We didn’t shoot well and when we don’t shoot well we have a hard time winning,” Hannigan said.
Not including free throws, Park scored 48 of its 63 points in the paint.
Jaden Jones, Lake DeJongh and Henry Zollar each total nine points to lead the Ponies, who also grabbed 15 offensive rebounds.
“We’ve done a good job offensive rebounding this year,” Hannigan said.
Freshman AJ Taban scored five points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.
Stillwater 27 24 — 51
Park 37 36 — 73
Stillwater (pts): AJ Taban 5, Brett Hilde 8, Jaden Jones 9, Ryan Silbernagel 2, Aiden Hammond 2, Chase Hanson 3, Joe Fredkove 4, Lake DeJongh 9 and Henry Zollar 9.
Park: Tayvion Stewart 13, Miskir Esayas 16, AJ Kennedy 7, Anthony Giadyu 10, Kaeden Callais 10, Adrian Davis 8 and Dom Batts 9.
Mounds View 59, Stillwater 46
At Oak Park Heights, tied at halftime, Mounds View took control after the intermission to pull away for a 59-46 SEC victory over the Ponies on Friday, Jan. 26 at Stillwater Area High School.
The Mustangs (6-5 SEC, 12-6) showed patience and more accurate shooting while outscoring the Ponies 39-26 in the second half. Eli Roe dropped in a game-high 17 points and Cody Loegering added 11 for Mounds View, which also defeated the Ponies 82-79 earlier this season.
“They were able to make more shots in the second half than we did,” Ponies coach Brady Hannigan said. “In the first half they did good job of making us work hard defensively and we did that, but we just kind of lost our legs in the second half a little bit.”
Lake DeJongh led the Ponies with 12 points and Jaden Jones added nine. Stillwater shot 37 percent from the field and showed improvement while making 9 of 13 free throws.
Mounds View was able to score on several set plays in the second half, leading to plenty of opportunities from close range.
“Their size mattered,” Hannigan said. “They have a lot of guys that are 6-foot-3 to 6-5 who play basketball well and they play together and just make things tough for people.
“We had opportunities but we missed a lot and they did a great job of keeping us off the offensive rebounds. They just played good defensively. They hit them when they needed to and we didn’t.”
Mounds View 20 39 — 59
Stillwater 20 26 — 46
Mounds View (pts): Cody Loegering 11, Jacob Sampson 8, Joey Fretheim 6, Eli Roe 17, Alex Kriauciunas 9 and Nate Edelman 8.
Stillwater: Brett Hilde 7, Jaden Jones 9, Aiden Hammond 4, Joe Fredkove 7, Lake DeJongh 12 and Henry Zollar 7.
Ponies host Hoops4ALS
The Stillwater boys basketball team is especially motivated to join the fight to end ALS. The Ponies raised nearly $4,000 and contributed to efforts to provide awareness for the disease when they hosted Mounds View for a Hoops4ALS game on Jan. 26.
Liftbridge Brewing Company in Stillwater also hosted an “Ales for ALS” release party the following day, with proceeds going towards ALS research at the ALS Therapy Development Institute.
ALS hits home for the Ponies as Stillwater graduate Chris Engler, who played in the NBA before returning to teach at SAHS, has battled the disease the past few years. In addition, Rebecca Shikenjanski, the wife of Ponies assistant coach Jim Shikenjanski and mother of former Ponies players, Nate, Sam and Max Shikenjanski.
“It’s a rare disease, but has impacted two very important people to our basketball program,” Ponies coach Brady Hannigan said. “It is great to see so much support for it.”
The Stillwater players and many fans in attendance wore purple shirts to show support for those living with ALS. Engler, whose No. 55 jersey was retired by the Ponies a year ago, and Rebecca Shikenjanski were each in attendance.
Hannigan credited Jason Hammond for his work organizing the event.
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