Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye’s Brayden Heiderscheidt goes for a steal while Sleepy EYe St. Marys’ Adam Steffensmeier handles the ball during a Tomahawk Division boys basketball game Friday at Sleepy Eye High School. Also pictured is Sleepy Eye’s Eric Lozano (22).

By Travis Rosenau

trosenau@nujournal.com

SLEEPY EYE — The Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights hit 10 3-pointers in the first half of Friday night’s crosstown rivalry game against Sleepy Eye, but that shooting was too hard to maintain against the defensive effort the Indians were bringing.

Led by senior Landon Wendinger’s 29-point, 21-rebound double-double, the Indians stayed poised in the second half on the way to a 78-66 win in a Tomahawk Division boys basketball game at Sleepy Eye High School.

Wendinger also had five blocks, while junior guard Brayden Heiderscheidt kept the 6-8 big man fed throughout the night and finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

The Knights previously defeated the Indians at St. Mary’s High School on Jan. 13. This time the Indians got their payback on Senior Night.

“I think we came out way hotter [this time],” Wendinger said. “We came out with energy, we were pumped up, we were ready to go, and that was what killed us that first time. We started out not so hot and that’s what killed us.”

Heiderscheidt added that the defensive effort the Indians showed Friday night was also key.

“Definitely the defensive side of the ball we really stepped up,” Heiderscheidt said. “We kind of worked on that all week in practice, really picking up the intensity on the defensive side of the ball.”

The Indians’ only other senior this season, Chino Luna, got in on the action early on with 5 points, all in the first half. Chase Zufall added 10 points for Sleepy Eye, while Robert Romberg chipped in 8.

St. Mary’s was led by Adam Steffensmeier’s 22 points, which included a trio of 3s in each half, while George Schwint had 15 points. Kessler Severson added 9 points, while Michael Balko had 8.

The Knights ended up shooting 15 of 34 from beyond the arc, while the Indians hit 7 of 19 from long range. The Indians dominated on the glass, however, outrebounding the Knights 33-17.

“For us offensively, we had a tough time getting into our offense,” Knights head coach Judd Walter said. “Sleepy Eye’s defense was really good tonight, especially in the second half. We really couldn’t do what we wanted to do. On the other end of the floor, defensively we had a really tough time when Landon caught the ball deep, he was able to get to his spots and really executed down there.”

Neither team led by more than 3 early on until Schwint, Tyler Mathiowetz and Steffensmeier each buried a 3 for a 23-15 Knights lead. A steal for a layup by Steffensmeier had the Knights fired up and ahead 25-15.

But Romberg converted on an and-one before a pair of 3s had the Indians down 28-26, forcing a St. Mary’s timeout with 7:36 left in the first half. A baseline drive off the glass by Heiderscheidt tied it up before Balko hit a 3 to put the Knights back in front 31-28. A reverse layup by Heiderscheidt was followed with a 3 by Romberg, a bucket inside by Wendinger and a pair of free throws by Heiderscheidt to give Sleepy Eye a 37-31 lead.

The Knights cut their deficit to 41-40 on a contested 3 by Severson with the shot clock winding down and the Knights tied it at 42-all heading into halftime on a last-second floater by Steffensmeier.

The Knights still hit some nice shots in the second half from beyond the arc, but three of their five 3s in that half came off the hot-handed Steffensmeier.

“A bunch of those shots were towards the end of the shot clock … good shots, but some of them were heavily contested and it was a good shot, not much you can do about it,” Wendinger said.

Wendinger scored consecutive buckets in the paint to start the second half and ignite an 11-2 run that gave the Indians a 53-44 lead. An 11-0 run capped off on a bucket inside by Schwint gave the Knights a 55-53 lead before Wendinger took over.

Wendinger scored 6 of Sleepy Eye’s next 8 points to put his team in front 61-55, and the Knights took a timeout with 8:56 left to play after a bad pass led to a turnover. Heiderscheidt sank a 3 and a jumper before Wendinger scored three consecutive times inside for a 72-55 lead, his last bucket coming off a nice feed from Heiderscheidt.

Evening up the crosstown series at a game apiece was also a good confidence-builder for the Indians heading into their final two games of the regular season before playoffs start.

“It really does feel good,” Wendinger said. “It’s our Senior Night, it was a great crowd, we’re starting to get things going and hopefully carry that into playoffs because it was really fun.”

While getting the win back from St. Mary’s was fun for Sleepy Eye, Heiderscheidt said he always looks forward to these kinds of games.

“It’s always a fun atmosphere to play against,” Heiderscheidt said. “We’re friends with a lot of these guys, so it’s always friendly when you’re playing them.”

Sleepy Eye (10-13, 6-9) travels to take on Mankato Loyola next at 7 p.m. Friday.

The Knights (9-14, 5-10) host Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop in their final Tomahawk Division game of the season at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.