File photo by Ari Selvey Cedar Mountain’s Blake Steffl drives to the baseline during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division boys basketball game against Wabasso on Jan. 10 at Cedar Mountain High School.

Keeping an undefeated streak going is something worth bragging about, but a first-ever Tomahawk-Valley Conference championship would be the icing on the cake for Cedar Mountain head coach Brian Pendleton and his players.

It’s a long season, however, and there are still plenty of challenges that lie ahead of the fifth-ranked Class A Cougars, with their biggest Tomahawk Division threat being the Springfield Tigers.

The Cougars defeated the Tigers 66-60 in Springfield on Dec. 16, 2024, but both teams were still figuring some things out early in the season at that point. Now this Tuesday, the teams will meet again in Morgan, with the stakes much higher.

The Cougars, now 14-0 overall and 11-0 in the Tomahawk, can take a 1 1/2-game lead in the Tomahawk Division with another win over Springfield as the bottom half of the divisional schedule rolls out.

Through the first half of the Tomahawk schedule in nine division games, the Cougars led the Tomahawk in fewest points allowed per game with 53.7 ppg allowed. They were third in ppg offensively with 74.8 ppg.

“I think the biggest thing is we just keep playing one game at a time,” Pendleton said. “We know how difficult the [Tomahawk] is, there are a lot of good teams in there, lot of games left to be played. That’s what’s nice about having some experience returning with a lot of our players. We start four seniors, play three juniors as well, but that’s what’s been helpful for us with their experience and knowing how things can change rather quickly.”

The Tigers, now 15-1 overall and 9-1 in the Tomahawk and ranked seventh in Class A, and head coach Lance Larson have enjoyed a hot start to the season despite the Tigers’ football team once again making the state football title game for the third year in a row. That football excitement was obviously welcome for Springfield, which won a state baseball title in the spring of 2024, but the long football run once again pushed back the start of the school’s boys basketball season.

“Success breeds success,” Larson said. “You come off a state championship in baseball and that rolls into football and hopefully that rolls into us maybe getting to a state appearance and see what happens.”

In addition to the late start, the Tigers have played the majority of their games so far this season without two of their bigger forwards Lucas Milbrath (6-foot-3, 175 pounds) and Aiden Moriarty (6-3, 240).

“We’ve been battling a few injuries and that kind of thing, but the guys have responded and done everything we asked for,” Larson said. “Originally we were probably going to be one of the bigger teams in the conference and then you lose Lucas Milbrath and Aiden Moriarty, two of our three post players, then you have to look at playing a little different, getting up and down the floor a little bit more and pressing a little bit more. So it’s been a little bit of an adjustment, but it’s a work in progress.”

As Cedar Mountain and Springfield compete neck and neck for a Tomahawk Division title and a chance to play in the first-ever Tomahawk-Valley Conference Boys Basketball title game against the Valley’s champion, the two teams know to focus on one game at a time in a conference that routinely features top talent and some upsets.

But one can’t deny that the two teams’ position at the top of the Tomahawk at this point in the season. It’s a spot that many area fans and coaches saw Springfield sitting in at the beginning of the season, but the Cougars may have been overlooked a bit.

“I think that was kind of the motivation from the beginning here, nobody really gave us credit or expected us to be or finish near the top,” Pendleton said. “But I knew that we had that capability and as long as we worked at it, we could be right there and here we are.”

The first meeting between Springfield and Cedar Mountain this season was described by both coaches as a physical game that could have been higher scoring if their players hit more of their free throws.

As it has been the case this year, Cedar Mountain 6-5 forward Blake Schueller and guard Blake Steffl have been two of the Cougars’ go-top options this season. In nine Tomahawk games, Schueller leads all Tomahawk players in scoring with 24.6 ppg and he’s second in rebounding with 14.2 rpg. Steffl meanwhile is averaging 19.2 ppg (fourth) and leads in assists with 7.7 apg.

Larson said limiting those two players is tough but necessary.

“We need to try and limit those guys as much as we can, I don’t think you’re going to shut them out or anything, but we need to make someone else beat us,” Larson said. “They’ve got a couple of good role players that stepped in and made some shots against us last time. Keys for us, you’ve got to rebound well, take care of the basketball, can’t turn it over and then I think we need to win the free throw battle.”

As for Pendleton’s plans in Tuesday’s rematch, matching Springfield’s physicality will be key.

“I think matching their physical play is always important and it’ll be important again this time,” Pendleton said. “I know we kind of came out sluggish [in the first game], we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds to them, but we kind of settled down in the second half. But rebounding and keeping pace with their physical play. They like to get up and down the floor as well, so transition, getting back in defense and transition is going to be key for us, too.”

Springfield will have one key addition in Tuesday’s game, however, in the form of 6-1 guard Dylan Simonson. Simonson missed that first matchup against the Cougars but will be ready to be another threat for the Tigers on Tuesday.

“That just gives us another threat,” Larson said. “We’ve been pretty fortunate. I think for a while this year we’ve been averaging five guys in double figures and our few guys off the bench are averaging like 8 and 9, so we’re pretty balanced. Hopefully we can just find who’s got the feeling going that night and feed him the ball and hopefully we get a couple of matchups that work in our favor.”

Through the first eight Tomahawk games, the Tigers averaged a divisional-best 80.9 ppg and allowed the second fewest points per game with 54 ppg allowed.

EXTRA POINTS

Through the first nine Tomahawk games, the Cougars shot a divisional-best 49.9% from the floor, ahead of Springfield (47.9%), Wabasso (44.7%), Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s (44.4%) and Sleepy Eye (42.4%).

From beyond the arc, it was Wabasso leading the way with a 37.4% 3-point percentage, followed by New Ulm Cathedral (34.3%), St. Mary’s (31.9%), Cedar Mountain (31.2%) and Sleepy Eye (28.4%).

Individually at the midway point, following Schueller in points per game was Lester Prairie’s Devin Bahr (23.2 ppg), Wabasso’s Braydon Guetter (20 ppg), Steffl (19.2 ppg) and Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Cole Jacobson (18.3 ppg). The rebounding leader to nobody’s surprise is the 6-foot-8 Landon Wendinger of Sleepy Eye, who was averaging 15.9 rebounds per game. After Wendinger and Schueller, Bahr followed with 12.6 rpg, while Wabasso’s Caden Frericks average a fourth-best 11.3 rpg and Jacobson was fifth with 9.6 rpg.

As for the Tomahawk’s top passers, Steffl was followed by Lester Prairie’s LaDamien Gatlin-Coellner (5.6 apg), Springfield’s Brayden Sturm (4.6 apg), Sleepy Eye’s Brayden Heiderscheidt (4.3 apg) and St. Marys’ Adam Steffensmeier (3.9 apg).

After Friday night, the Cougars stayed undefeated overall and moved to 11-0 in the conference ahead of Springfield. Third in the Tomahawk is Wabasso (6-5), while Cathedral sits fourth (5-5) and Sleepy Eye and St. Mary’s are tied for fifth (4-6).