By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor

The Caledonia and Spring Grove boys basketball teams gave the large crowd attending the first round of the SE Minnesota Holiday Showdown in Caledonia a thrilling game, which the Warriors won by six points, 75-69.

The Warriors and Lions came into the game sporting identical 5-0 records. And the two teams battled it out for the entire game.

Spring Grove held a slight 31-29 lead at the halftime intermission. The Lions then went on a tear as the second half got underway, hitting three straight treys for a 10-point lead. The two teams exchanged baskets during the next 10 minutes of the second half.

"We were down by 12 points with 10 minutes to go in the game when I called a time out," CHS coach Josh Diersen noted. "I told the kids we had plenty of time, made some adjustments, we came out in a full-court press, and went on a run of our own."

The Warriors changed the tempo of the game, picked up some Lion turnovers, thanks to the swarming full-court press, and took the lead when sophomore Cody Haugstad nailed a three-pointer with four minutes to go.

CHS went up by three and went into a slow-down offense, forcing the Lions to foul. The Warriors nailed 13 of 15 free shots for the night, including 8 for 8 by Kody Moore in the second half, to seal the victory.

"This was a good lesson for our kids," Diersen said. "They were down by 12 points, but didn't panic. This is the second time we've been down by that much and come back to win the game. This game had a number of momentum swings. Spring Grove has a very good team and took the game over for a while right after the half. But our kids know how to win. We've got a great team chemistry, which really shows when you consider how balanced our scoring has been this year."

CHS had a great night putting the ball through the hoop. Besides hitting 86 percent from the charity line, they made 8 of 21 from three point land (38 percent), and 27 of 55 from with field for a blistering 49 percent.

The Warriors had four players in double figures. Moore lead the offensive charge with 21 points. The senior guard had six rebounds and three assists.

Craig Loeffler added 17 points and dished out eight assists.

Ryan Goetzinger chipped in 16 points, had six rebounds, five steals and three assists.

Bobby Augedahl had 12 points and four assists. The sophomore guard scored all of his points from beyond the three-point line, nailing four of seven shots.

Haugstad had seven points and Alex Klug two points to round out the scoring for the Warriors.

CHS took on a tough La Crescent team Saturday afternoon in the second round of the holiday tournament after this issue of The Argus went to press, due to the New Year's holiday.

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