DULUTH — Twelve different players scored for the No. 3 seed Pierz Pioneers in their 88-60 win over the No. 1 seed Virginia Blue Devils in the Section 7-2A semifinals Wednesday, March 11, at Romano Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
“The focus this whole preparation period was to outwork our opponent,” Pierz head coach Joe Kahl said. “It’s on the defensive end, our defense will lead to our offense and that’s what we have been focusing on. Obviously it’s paying off for us right now.”
Pierz forced Virginia into 12 first-half turnovers, which led to 18 points. The Pioneers also dominated the offensive glass and grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in the first half leading to 8 second chance points.
“Pierz is always known for being small, but working hard,” Kahl said. “And that was kind of the message before the game. We are not that big, but we are going to try to outwork you. It’s just being in position, blocking out and fighting for those 50-50 balls and that’s the type of mentality our team has right now.”
Michael Leidenfrost continued his stellar play scoring 13 of his 15 points in the first half as the Pioneers went into the locker room up 41-19.
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The first half ended with Pierz going on a 8-0 run highlighted by multiple fast break layups.
“We knew they only run a couple of guys off the bench, so if we got out and started running right away we’d be able to get them tired,” Leidenfrost said. “They were a lot taller than us, so our mindset coming in was just to run and keep running until the end of the game and tire them out.”
Virginia started the game in 2-3 zone, but Pierz’s offensive rebounding quickly got the Blue Devils out of it.
Pierz’s game plan on defense was to hone in on Jayden Bernard of Virginia. In the first half, the Pioneers held Bernard to 1-of-8 and two points. Bernard finished with game-high 20 points.
“Coach Kahl has been telling us to man up to our guy,” Leidenfrost said. “We got to keep them in front and do our job.”
The Pioneers scored the first six points of the second to extend their lead to 28. They lead by as many as 36.
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In the second half, Virginia started forcing out shots to try and get back in. For the game, the Pioneers held the Blue Devils to 34% shooting.
As Kahl predicted, the defense led to offense as Pierz shot 51% getting a lot of layups.
Brandon Stuckmayer led the way for Pierz with 16 points. Jonah Prokott finished with 14 points. Peter Schommer added eight points, which means he is eight points from tying Pierz all-time scoring record.
“What makes us successful right now is our depth,” Kahl said. “I’ve said it all year, for awhile we hit a little bump in the road, but we got all our guys healthy right now and that’s our strength right now going 9-10 deep without missing a beat.”
Kahl knows his team knows the stakes of what’s ahead.
“I don’t know if we need anymore motivation,” Kahl said. “We’ve been knocked out of the playoffs the last two years by Esko and I think the boys will be ready to play Friday.”
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Virginia 19 41 — 60
Pierz 41 47 — 88
VIRGINIA
Joe Hafdahl 7, Logan Nordby 3, Dylan Johnson 3, Nick Peters 6, Daniel Squires 3, Jayden Bernard 20, Mason Carlson 8, Gavin Dahl 3, Kyle Williams 7. FG 21-62 (34%), FT 14-21 (67%). 3-point 4-22 (18%).
PIERZ
Peter Schommer 8, Kyle Welle 2, Ryan Stuckmayer 9, Brandon Stuckmayer 16, Robert Schaefer 7, Noah Cekalla 6, Andrew Brill 4, John Pawlu 2, Michael Leidenfrost 15, Jonah Prokott 14, Jakob Hyatt 3, Zachary Traut 2. FG 35-69 (51%), FT 8-9 (89%). 3-point 8-22 (36%).
Pierz 88, Virginia 60
Key: Pierz forced 12 first-half turnovers and scored 18 points off those turnovers to come away with a lopsided win.
Overall: Prz 21-8.
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Next: plays Esko/Duluth Marshall at University of Minnesota-Duluth 7 p.m. Friday, March 13.
CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.
For more photos, go to https://bit.ly/2Q6U8Gc .
