Boys basketball: Happy with their first half

• Irish basketball

The Rosemount boys basketball team went 10-3 in the first half of its season.

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After playing eight games in 15 days, the Rosemount boys basketball team might have earned itself a break.

The break comes at a convenient time for the Irish, as the team is exactly 13 games into their 26-game schedule.

As a reward, Rosemount’s players are getting a weekend off after playing at Eden Prairie on Thursday night.

“It’s just a good way to get away for a bit, come back and be rejuvenated for Eastview and Kennedy next week,” Irish coach Bryan Schnettler said.

Meanwhile, at 10-3 and winners of five of the last seven games, the midpoint offers the coaches and players something to think about.

The Irish lost 75-73 against Minnetonka last week. A day later Rosemount beat Chanhassen, 63-52. On Tuesday, the Irish pulled out a 47-45 win at Burnsville.

“We’re winning games in the best conference in the state, so there’s not much to complain about,” Schnettler said. “We have a lot of things we can show up. We’re exactly at the midpoints and it’s a good time to look at where we are at and where we want to get to, and think about what we need to do to get there.”

The Irish started strong against Burnsville on Tuesday, and held on throughout the second half to come up with the victory.

Toriano Tatum led the Irish with 17 points. Matt Nelson scored nine points, while Zach Vraa tallied eight points.

“It was a very physical game,” Schnettler said. “They did some things to try and shut down Zach and forced us to shoot. We didn’t shoot as well as we typically do, but that will change (Thursday) night.”

Against Chanhassen, Rosemount made another halftime lead stand.

Vraa ended with 21 points, while Tatum chipped in with 14. Matt Larson and Justin Larson each had nine points.

“Defensively we were solid,” Schnettler said. “We didn’t have a lot of energy, but we came out with the win, so you can’t complain about that.”

Vraa scored 28 in the loss at Minnetonka. Brandon Wolf added 11 points.

“We missed some shots we typically make and that was the difference in the game,” Schnettler said.

The Irish resume their schedule next week with a Tuesday home game against Eastview and a Thursday trip to Kennedy.

Tags: boys basketball, sports, rosemount, irish, prep, minnesota