Photo by Paul Trende
Kingsland (13-seed, 11-15) and Spring Grove (4-seed, 22-4) met twice in the regular season. It took until the second half in each game for the Lions to pull away. In the teams’ third meeting of the season, the Lions were more emphatic in posting a win and moving on to the 1A quarters. SG entered having lost its regular-season finale to Fillmore Central, and took out their frustration by building a 28-14 halftime lead, rolling in the second half to 62-27 victory. Wade Grinde’s group never trailed and led by as many as 37. The Lions got a big spark from sophomore Jacob Olerud off the bench, who drilled 6 of 6 threes (game-high 20 points, 4 stls). Tysen Grinde (19 pts, 3-8 threes, 5 rebs, 10 asts, 4 stls) added point-assist double-double. Jaxon Strinmoen had 6 (pts), 9 (rebs), and 6 (asts). Carson Gerard (6 pts, 5 rebs) and Hunter Holland (6 pts, 3-3 FGs) helped. The Lions were without standout sophomore guard Elijah Solum, who got injured early in the game (not serious). Senior Walker Erdman had another double-double (15 pts, 12 rebs) to lead the Knights. He had five of Kingsland’s nine field goals. The Knights were held to a season-low point-total. SG shot 24 of 54 (53%) from the field and 10 of 20 (50%) from deep. Kingsland was 9 of 44 (20%) from the field and 3 of 17 (18%) from deep. The Lions (23-4) move on to face 5-seed Kenyon-Wanamingo (21-6). Kingsland’s season ends at 11-16.