Boys Basketball: Sebeka scuttles the Verndale Pirates 74-35

Joey Cuperus and Cody Pulju each scored 17 points as third-ranked Sebeka scuttled the host Verndale Pirates 74-35 in Park Region Conference action Friday.

Leading 24-10 early in the first half, the Trojans went on a 30-1 run to go into halftime up 54-11. Sebeka would go on to build their lead to 72-20 with 10 minutes left before the Pirates closed out the game with a 15-2 run.

The Trojans had five players crack into double figures as they combined to shoot 62 percent (29-for-47), had a total of eight players registered points in the scorebook and allowed all the bench players at least eight minutes of playing time.

“Our big bright spot for the game would be contributions off the bench, most notably Josh Kinnunen who came in and gave us a career high 10 points,” said Sebeka head coach Jon Lillquist. “We did a really nice job in the first 26 minutes of taking care of the ball and playing defense. Our defense gave us many fastbreak opportunities which we converted a high percentage of.”

Kinnunen displayed his all-around prowess off the bench. The senior went 3-for-4 from the charity stripe, hit both jumpers in the paint, drained one shot from downtown and collected two rebounds in 15 minutes.

Also contributing for Sebeka was Ryan Sharp with 13 points and John Clark scored 11, as the Trojans won their 17th straight game to improve to 18-1.

Verndale was led by Zack Meidinger with a team-high 14 points and Caleb Burczyk added 12 for the Pirates, who have lost 17 consecutive games to fall to 1-18.

Sebeka heads to Eagle Valley to battle the Rebels at 7:30 p.m. Monday

Sebeka at Verndale on February 12
Trojans 74, Pirates 35
Sebeka 54 20—74
Verndale 11 24—35
Sebeka—Joey Cuperus 17, Cody Pulju 17, Ryan Sharp 13, John Clark 11, Josh Kinnunen 10, Alex Brockpahler 2, Reid Redetzke 2, Paul Funk 2.
Verndale—Zack Meidinger 14, Caleb Burczyk 12, Jerdan Stinar 4, Dallas Ehrmantraut 3, Dustin Motschenbacher 2.