Staff photo by Fritz Busch Sleepy Eye senior Landon Wendinger, right, drives near Mankato Loyola defender Christian Barker in the Indians’ 61-50 win over the Crusaders in Sleepy Eye Tuesday. Wendinger finished the game with 24 points, 20 rebounds and eight blocks.

By Fritz Busch

fbusch@nujournal.com

SLEEPY EYE — Playing with defensive intensity, the seventh-seeded Sleepy Eye Indians ousted 10th-seeded Mankato Loyola 61-50 in the second round of the Section 2A boys basketball playoffs Tuesday.

“We played great defense, really turning up the intensity,” said Sleepy Eye sophomore Brayden Heiderscheidt who finished the game with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists.

He finished the game 4 points shy of the 1,000 career point mark but hit several floating shots that were not touched by the Crusaders.

Sleepy Eye senior Landon Wendinger finished the game with 24 points, 20 rebounds and eight blocks. Wendinger hit a pair of back-to-back three-point plays in the final eight minutes of play, scoring near the basket on putbacks and sinking free throws.

“I really love playing with these guys. I have to admit, there’s just nothing better than playing basketball with them,” said Wendinger, who plans to study and play basketball at the University of Eau Claire next fall.

Sleepy Eye sophomore guard Eric Lozano finished with 11 points and sophomore Robert Romberg had six points.

“Not bad for a team with lots of sophomores and freshmen,” said Sleepy Eye Coach Shane Heiderscheidt.

“We had a great week of practice, working hard on defense. We held them to 19 points less than they scored on us in the last game. We were prepared. Everybody played great. It was a good team win,” he said.

The 14-13 Indians play the winner of the BOLD-Martin County West game at 6 p.m. Thursday at Sibley East High School in Arlington.

The Crusaders sank a couple 3-pointers early, leading 6-0 before Brayden Heiderscheidt and Lozano canned a couple treys to make it 8-6.

Loyola raced to a 13-6 lead before Lozano hit another trey.

Wendinger hit a pair of three throws and Brayden Heiderscheidt’s floater put the Indians up 17-15.

A Wendinger dunk and two put-backs made it 25-17, Indians.

Wendinger had six blocks at intermission, as the Indians clung to a 27-24 lead.

The Crusaders’ last lead was 32-31.

Loyola sophomore R. J. Beal scored 20 and Preston Grams had 10 points.