BOYS BASKETBALL Minster rallies past Botkins, 56-50

December 31, 2011

Minster's Ryan Hoying watches his shot float towards the basket during Minster's 56-50 win over Botkins on Friday night. (Photo by Neal Stoner)

MINSTER — Minster erased a seven-point halftime deficit to defeat Botkins 56-50 on Friday night.

“I wasn’t feeling pretty good after the first 16 minutes, but our kids found a little bit of gut, grit, determination, whatever you want to call it. They stuck together, things started to go right,” said Minster head coach Mike Lee. “We hit a few shots and then it’s a matter of the confidence level raising, and we needed to see that.”

Lee was very happy his team was able to overcome adversity and defeat the talented Botkins squad.

“It’s a good basketball team that we just faced here this evening. They have a lot of quickness, a lot of kids that can break you down off the dribble,” said Lee. “I just thought we did a much better job on the glass the second half than what we did the first.”

Austin Knapke led Minster with 14 points. Poeppelman and Wolf each added 9.

Schwartz scored a game-high 16 points for Botkins, while Egbert scored 10 and Zimpfer added 8.

“It’s one win, but that’s a step in, hopefully, the right direction,” said Lee.

Minster (2-4) will travel to New Bremen on Friday.