Boys Basketball: Hot shooting puts Wingers past Winona

With four players in double figures – led by Ty Buck’s 17 points – the Red Wing boys basketball team picked up its third straight victory with an 81-73 win over Winona Thursday in Winona.

Along with Buck, Ryan Boldt (16), Jon Sevlie (15) and Jack Leurquin (10) each finished in double digits, helping the Wingers to their highest-scoring game of the season. Luke Bryant and Ben Miller added eight points apiece.

“We had great balance,” said Red Wing head coach Doug Toivonen. “That was our best offensive balance of the year as far as working together as a team.”

The Wingers built a 42-32 lead at halftime and were light-out on offense for the game, shooting 24 of 39 from the field. They were also 18-for-19 from the free-throw line in the win.

Buck capitalized on Red Wing’s hot shooting, notching eight assists. Boldt also finished with four steals in the victory.

“(Buck) played very unselfish, and the whole team played very unselfish,” Toivonen said. “Six of our eight guys each had assists. At some point, we were maybe too unselfish, but that’s a good problem to have.”

Despite the hot shooting, the win didn’t come without a little drama. With 40 seconds left, the Winhawks cut the Wingers’ lead down to two before clutch free-throw shooting put Red Wing in the win column.

“(Winona’s) very streaky. They were not good in the first half, but in the second half, they hit some bombs,” Toivonen said. “There were hitting 25-footers. We were a little disappointed in our rebounding and we gave up a little bit of dribble-penetration.”

The Wingers (4-2) are off until Dec. 21, but await one of the toughest tests in the state when they play host to Austin. The Packers are ranked second in Class 3A.

Tags: boys basketball, red wing, sports, prep