Twenty-nineteen will begin like the past four years haven’t for Chatfield boys basketball. The Gophers will head to a New Year above five hundred for the first time since 2013-2014. A pair of WSU Tournament games wins assured it. The Gophers have also already matched last year’s win total. Versus Lanesboro, Chatfield out-scored the Burros 39 to 25 in the second half to build on a 36-33 halftime lead. Jeff DeBuhr’s group prevailed 75-58, posting a season-high in points. Sophomore Reid Johnson led the way with an efficient all-around effort (24 pts, 10-13 FGs, 6 rebs, 7 asts, 7 stls). Josef Fahrenholtz, a 6’6” center, posted his fifth straight double-double (14 pts, 6-9 FGs, 12 rebs). Landon Bance got all his points from distance (15 pts, 5-9 threes). David Castleberg added 8 (pts) and 6 (rebs). Lanesboro was led by Sawyer Johnson (season-high 19 pts, 5-9 threes), Carson Schwichtenberg (17 pts, 5-12 threes, 5 asts), and John Prestemon (10 pts, 7 rebs, 5 asts), who combined to hit 12 three-pointers. The Burros are 0-4, 2-7. A day later, Chatfield was back in Winona, taking on Cochrane-Fountain City. An 89-59 win was biggest offensive night for a Chatfield boys team since a 2014 (beat Southland 90-66). Johnson had his second-best scoring effort (28 pts, 11-15 FGs, 4-5 threes, 5 rebs). Bance matched his effort from a day earlier (15 pts, 5-9 threes). The junior has scored 90 of 94 points from behind the arc (30-56, 53.6%). Castleberg (10 pts), Fahrenholtz (8 pts, 8 rebs), and Ben Brogan (8 pts, 5 stls) helped. For the two games, Chatfield shot 63-117 from the field (53.8%) and 19 of 36 from distance (52.8%). The Gophers are now 1-3 (TRC), 4-3 (overall).
Johnson Leads Gophers to a New Year
