Spartan boys defeat Denfeld

The Superior High School boys basketball team defeated Duluth Denfeld 69-57 Tuesday night.

The win puts the Spartans at 4-0 for the season and 2-0 in the Lake Superior Conference.

“It was a nice win for us considering I did not think we played a very good first half offensively,” said Dave Kontny, Superior head coach. “Our bench supplied 15 of our 27 first-half points, which was great, but we weren’t patient and had too many non-forced turnovers.”

Superior took narrow lead in the first half thanks to strong defensive play that held Denfeld to 22 points. The Spartans led 27-22 at halftime and then pulled away in the second half with 42 points.

“I thought our halftime adjustments offensively hurt Denfeld, and we shot the ball much better in the second half,” Kontny said. “You’re not going to play well every night, but our team kept its composure when Denfeld made their runs and our kids played hard all night and that’s half the battle.”

Superior was 10-of-15 from the free-throw line, while Denfeld was 5-of-10.

Derek Kontny led Superior with 16, followed by Erick Tunell with 15 and Jordan Hughes with 12.

SPARTAN SPIN: The Superior junior varsity team won 55-28 Tuesday at Duluth Denfeld to improve to 3-1. Matt O’Shaughnessy scored 15 points to lead the Spartans, Nate Sanders added 10 and Devan Rivord added seven. … The SHS freshman team defeated Denfeld 47-20 to remain undefeated this season (4-0). Brandon Meyer led a balance attack with nine points.

Superior 27 42 — 69

Denfeld 22 35 — 57

Superior — Derek Kontny 16, Erick Tunell 15, Jordan Hughes 12, Nick Melhum 8, Carter Anderson 6, Bryan Sanders 6, Anthony Valentine 4, Ben Erickson 2.

3-point goals — Kontny 3, Anderson 2, Tunell, Hughes.

Denfeld — Jerome Strother 16, Steve Bradshaw 15, Jamarr Harkins 12, Sergei Hanka 9, Robinson 3, Josh Davis 2.

3-point goals — Bradshaw 2, Harkins 2, Robinson, Hanka.

Tags: sports, superior, spartans, basketball, preps