Otters' Taylor Shuck (5) swats the ball away as Moorhead's Matt Fernholz (4) drives off a steal. Spuds took home a 68-62 win over the home town Otters.

Spuds get past Otters [UPDATED]

Published 2:35am Wednesday, February 16, 2011 Updated 8:23am Wednesday, February 16, 2011
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The Moorhead Spuds played keep-away with the Fergus Falls boys basketball team at Kennedy Secondary School’s Gold Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Anytime the Otters inched close enough to threaten a Spuds’ lead, Moorhead would drain a couple of insurance buckets to keep the home team at bay and by the time the final horn sounded the visiting Spuds had a 68-62 non-conference victory.

“Whenever they needed a play to keep us at arm’s length, it seemed like they got it,” Otters’ coach Dave Rund said.

Down two with eight minutes to play, a defensive mistake in the Otters’ zone allowed Moorhead standout Aaron Lien an open look from beyond the arc, which the sophomore forward drilled to push the Spud advantage back to five.

“If we had a breakdown on defense, they were able to take advantage of it,” Rund said.

The Otters committed just 11 turnovers; however, critical turnovers in the second half, especially late prevented Fergus from making an offensive run to catch the Spuds.

After scoring 16 points in the opening half, the Otters did do a better job containing Lien in the second, limiting him to nine points. Lien would finish the night with a team-leading 25 points.

Fergus junior Zach Rengel scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half, aided by three three-pointers in an attempt to ignite the Otter offense.

“Zach was a lot more aggressive on both ends of the floor in the second half for us,” Rund said.

Sophomore post Mike Millard led the Otters with a game-high 26 points and a team-leading 10 rebounds.

Fergus did out-rebound the Spuds 31-29, but another key to the Moorhead victory came at the free throw line where the visitors connected on 88 percent (14-16) of their attempts. The Otters shot just 59 percent (10-17) from the charity stripe.

With the win, the Spuds completed a season sweep of the Otters, also topping Fergus 75-57 in Moorhead back on Jan. 18 when the Spuds were then ranked tenth in Class 4A.

The Otters (6-14) will look to end their seven-game losing streak against Rocori in Fergus Falls on Thursday. The Spartans held off the Otters 61-55 in Rocori on Jan. 6.

MH 30 38—68

FF 26 36—62

MH scoring:  Aaron Lien 25; Matt Fernholz 10; Matt Watnemo 10; Matt Ellingson 9; Jared Widner 8; Travis Hand 4; Camden Bosche 2

FF scoring: Mike Millard 26; Zach Rengel 17; Taylor Shuck 9; Matt Suek 5; Luke Heck 2; Shane Westerberg 2; Conor Swenson 1

Field goal percentage: MH-45% (25-55); FF-38% (23-60)

Free throw percentage: MH-88% (14-16); FF-59% (10-17)

Three-point percentage: FF-33% (6-18); MH-25% (4-16)

Rebounding: FF-31; MH-29

Turnovers: FF-11; MH-9

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