SLEEPY EYE — With 23 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks, Sleepy Eye’s 6-foot-8 senior Landon Wendinger led his Indians to a 71-50 win over the Nicollet Raiders on Saturday in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference boys basketball crossover game.

Wendinger didn’t really get going until the second half, but he did see a tight double team by the Raiders almost every time he touched the ball on the low block.

Thankfully for the Indians, Wendinger was far from alone in his efforts as Brayden Heiderscheidt added 15 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists and Robert Romberg had 13 points and four rebounds. Braylon Nelson got the start for Sleepy Eye also and finished with 12 points and three rebounds.

“We got into the paint a little bit and Robert did a really good job of scoring for us and then you can’t double [Landon] anymore, then the dumpoff is there and there are not too many people that are going to stop him,” Sleepy Eye head coach Shane Heiderscheidt said. “And then we shot the ball decently well. Braylon, obviously his first start, he came in and played well. … What people don’t realize is we’re young, too, they look and see Landon, but we’re also playing with freshmen and sophomores. But [Landon] is sick as a dog, he can hardly breathe.”

As Wendinger battled illness and got more substitutions than he’s used to seeing because of it, the Indians stayed aggressive. Nelson hit three quick 3-pointers to help give the Indians a 16-9 lead early on before a 3 by Brayden Heiderscheidt made it a 10-point game.

Keegan Hulke, who led Nicollet with 17 points and eight rebounds, answered moments later with a bucket inside and a 3 to have his team down 20-15. Brayden Heiderscheidt responded with a 3 of his own before Keegan Hulke hit a pair of free throws and another 3 to have the Raiders down 23-20. Henry Kennedy had a pair of layups late in the half to have Nicollet down 29-24 before Wendinger and Romberg scored to close the half with Sleepy Eye up 33-24.

“Shane’s a good coach and he’s got them playing really well,” Nicollet head coach Chris Hulke said. “I think Landon had 6 at halftime, obviously a huge focal point for us, our guys did a great job. Second half we just wore down, they moved the ball a little quicker and we just don’t have a lot of answers for a 6-8 guy. We’ve got some good players, we didn’t shoot it very good, but once Landon got that high-low going, we struggled a little bit with that. It was tough to keep the ball out of his hands.”

A slow first two minutes of the second half for both teams prompted a Nicollet timeout. Sleepy Eye started the second-half scoring with a layup by Brayden Heiderscheidt before a free throw by Keegan Hulke got the Raiders back in the scoring column.

Without a slam dunk in the first half, Wendinger was finally able to get some space inside and put down his first dunk of the game for a 50-41 lead with less than eight minutes to play.

After Keegan Hulke added two more free throws to have the Raiders down 50-43, the Indians came to life with a corner 3 by Romberg being followed up by a Wendinger and-one. Brayden Heiderscheidt then added a free throw before Eric Lozano, Nelson scored and Wendinger each scored inside to complete a 13-0 run with a 63-43 lead.

Henry Oscarson ended Sleepy Eye’s long run with a 3 to have the Raiders down 63-46.

Wendinger then got his second dunk of the game and moments later found Chase Zufall open on the wing for a 3 as Sleepy Eye started to have fun. Wendinger’s third dunk of the half and game with less than two minutes to play led to subs entering and the final score.

Carson Kettner also had 16 points for Nicollet, while AJ Kramer pulled in 10 rebounds.

Sleepy Eye (5-5) is at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop on Monday night, while Nicollet (3-6) is at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s on Monday night.

NOTE: A complete story with additional comments and a photo can be seen in this Tuesday’s edition of The Journal and online.