Broman And LCA Too Much For South Ridge

Wes Vork-NSO

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Jan 24, 2012

Kerry Rodd-NSO

A lot if written about Anders Broman of Lakeview Christian Academy and that is rightfully so as the junior scoring machine is about to obliterate scoring records in the state. After Broman scored 40 points, and his Lions beat South Ridge 96-56 on Tuesday night, the Panthers got a firsthand look at the entire LCA team which is a very solid unit.

LCA thrives on pressure man-to-man defense and takes what almost is a lost art these days to a level of chaos and controlled fury as they continued to cause turnovers and got easy baskets off of those turnovers; 18 of Broman’s 40 points came as a direct result of turnovers.

We’ve worked a lot on it (Defense) and the guys really want to make improvements in that area,” LCA Head Coach Bob Newstrom told Northland Sports Online following the game. “We know that if we want to reach the top of our potential, that’s an area where we needed to make significant improvement. The guys have committed to doing the things in practice that form habits which show up in the game.”

Broman now has 3,202 career points which puts him under 100 points away from Joel McDonalds northeastern Minnesota scoring record. Broman is just a bit over 800 away from the all time state record of 4086 points, held by Kevin Noreen of Safe Transitions Charter School. At his current pace Broman should also break the state single season record of 1205 held by Noreen in the quarterfinals of this year’s playoffs. While Broman tossed in 40 points he also added 10 assists and teammate Adam Fuchs finished with 20 points.

“We knew we would do well if we could get them into their half court set. It’s the transitions and turnovers where he gets a lot of his points and that’s what hurt us,” Panthers Head Coach Carl Grussendorf explained. “You have to take care of the ball, especially against a team like this because they’re going to convert, and Anders is one of the best at converting those.”

Bjorn Broman, Anders brother and Lions point guard, added 14 points for the Lions, Luke Borchardt added 12, it was Josh Plys scoring six and Ethan Lawler finished with four points.

The Lions sprinted out to a 56-27 halftime lead and then put things on cruise control over the second half.

Even though the Panthers ended up on the wrong end of scoreboard against the high flying Lions; Coach Grussendorf is happy with the overall success of his young team. “We’ve had a good year so far, the kids are coming together nicely and I think we’re exceeding expectations. This team has lost a lot the last couple of years and we’re playing a lot of younger kids. We have had a lot of close games and we’re pulling them out at the end.”

Leading the Panthers was Dan Wood with 11 points, Colton Peterson with 10, Kody Karppinen finished with nine points, Drew Janke added eight, it was Aaron Smith with six, Robbie McQuade scored five, Dom Janke scored three and both Alex Wolfe and Jerome Otis scored two points.

South Ridge is now 8-6 on the season while the Lions are now 14-2 and have won six in a row.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandpsortsonline.com