Ben Murphy
Sports Scene
The Michigan Lutheran Seminary boys basketball team had one of its best seasons in school history last year. The Cardinals went 20-5, winning their first regional championship since 1985 and going 13-1 in league play to win the Tri-Valley West title for the first time since 1986. The season, as good as it was, ended with a heartbreaking 60-58 loss to Westside Christian Academy in the Class D quarterfinals.
A repeat season isn’t out of the question for fifth-year head coach David Lecker, who returns three starters and seven letter winners from last year’s squad.
“We have a good core returning from our run last year,” Lecker said. “I know they are hungry to get back to where they were last year, but people are going to be gunning for us.”
Seniors Todd Brassow (first team all-conference in 2011 and team’s leading scorer), Luke Morrell, and Austin Head (second team all-conference in 2011, leading rebounder, and third in scoring) return after starting last year.
Other returnees are seniors Jesse Lindloff (third year varsity), Wes Towne (expected to start at point guard), Evan Lehr, Isaac Pappenfuss, and junior Mike Greenwood.
“The three starters from last year’s team will have to be the leaders,” Lecker said. “We will have to continue to play strong defense and use our depth to continue the success we had last year.”
New to the team are juniors Eric Neumann, McKenzie Yerks, Andy Wall, Steven Dietrich, and Ben Snyder.
“We lost our second-leading scorer and our best defensive player, so we have to find guys to step in and take their places,” Lecker said. “We do have a good group of guys with plenty of experience, but they will have to continue to work hard and play as a team to meet their goals.”