WILLMAR -- Ridgewater College pulled away in the last 12 minutes to hand the St. John's University a 77-58 loss on Tuesday.
"We stepped it up at the end and took over the game," said coach Bob Knutson. "I like the way we kind of gutted it out and then finally got it going at the end."
Ridgewater (4-1) shot 53 percent in the second half after a ragged first 20 minutes.
Rafael Viana with 18 points and Cory Nietfeld with 16 led the charge for Ridgewater. Tom Boike added 10 points, Ben Moser and Beau Bredeson nine each and Derek Eisenschenk seven.
Casey Sussenguth paced the Warriors with nine rebounds.
ADVERTISEMENT
Three freshmen from the area started for the Johnnies: forwards Skylar Wachter and Chris Tengwall of Class AA state champion New London-Spicer and 6-5 post Dan Bonebright of Redwood Falls.
Wachter, seeing his first extensive action because of an elbow injury, scored SJU's first basket and finished with five points and four rebounds. Tengwall nabbed 13 rebounds and Bonebright had a team-high 14 points.
Ridgewater 77, St. John's JV 58
SJU JV 23 35 -- 58
Ridgewater 29 48 -- 77
ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY JV - 21-52 FG (5-15 3-pt); 11-21 FT; 35 rebounds; 20 fouls ... Scoring: Brad Allgaier 4-9 2-2 12, Ryan Brown 1-2 0-0 3, Luke Mernin 1-4 0-0 2, Ted Stessman 2-4 1-2 5, Dan Bonebright 5-9 4-10 14, Skylar Wachter 2-7 0-0 5, Mike Nezworski 2-3 1-3 5, Chris Tengwall 2-6 0-0 4, Kolby Kulas 1-1 0-0 2 ... 3-point shots: McGovern 1, Wachter 1, Brown 1, Allgaier 2 ... Rebound leaders: Tengwall 13, Wachter 4 ... Assist leaders: Allgaier 4 ... Steal leaders: McGovern 2, Stessman 2
RIDGEWATER - 30-70 FG (3-13 3-pt); 14-21 FT; 45 rebounds; 16 fouls ... Scoring: Beau Bredeson 1-3 6-6 9, Ben Moser 4-8 0-0 9, Adam Lindblad 1-7 2-2 4, Derek Eisenschenk 2-6 2-2 7, Cory Nietfeld 8-15 0-1 16, Rafael Viana 8-11 2-6 18, Casey Sussenguth 1-4 0-1 2, Dan Hennen 1-2 0-0 2, Tom Boike 4-9 2-3 10 ... 3-point shots: Moser 1, Eisenschenk 1, Bredeson 1 ... Rebound leaders: Boke 6, Sussenguth 9, Bredeson 4, Moser 4, Nietfeld 5 ... Assist leaders: Bredeson 5, Sussenguth 3 ... Steal leaders: Moser 3 ... Blocked shots: Boike 2
