Caledonia 72 Stewartville 60 – Five Things to Know

Caledonia and Stewartville took park in a fun, exciting top five battle last Friday night won by the Warriors 72-50. Here are the Prep Hoops five things to know from the game. One. Warriors Still Have the Pieces.   Caledonia is currently ranked 4th in Class AA basketball after knocking off Stewartville 72-60. I don’t think many have written off Caledonia because their program is so well respected, but at the same time with Eli KingEliKing6'3" | PGCaledonia | 2022State#157NationMN out I think many feel they are more beatable. What we saw on Friday is that this team is still very tough. With a core senior group of Casey SchultzCaseySchultz6'3" | SFCaledonia | 2021MN, Sam PrivetSamPrivet6'9" | PFCaledonia | 2021StateMN, and Andrew KuneliusAndrewKunelius6'0" | SGCaledonia | 2021MN the Warriors (Austin KlugAustinKlug6'4" | SGCaledonia | 2021StateMN who didn’t play on Friday) have what they need to make another run. Caledonia defended Will TschetterWillTschetter6'9" | PFStewartville | 2021State#96NationMN with Schultz, a physical 6-foot-4 small forward, and Casey did a great job of making every cut Will made, and every post up Tschetter attempted, a physical battle. Two or three guys also converged on Tschetter and it ultimately slowed his production in a few different ways. Kunelius and junior Jackson KoepkeJacksonKoepke6'2" | SGCaledonia | 2022StateMN both did a great job of all around production while Schultz supplied a secondary scoring option.  This team has even more depth than I thought they did. Don’t be surprised if they are right there with North, Melrose, and Waseca at the end. Two. Tschetter.   Will put together a game of 31 points and 20 rebounds making 12 of 26 shot attempts. Tschetter hit two threes, he scored four times on the dribble attack, he scored on four putbacks, and a pair of post-up catch and finishes. He was on pace for about a 40 point. 25 rebound game but fouls sent him to the bench late in the first half and ultimately changed how he played the game. Will’s versatility was on full display. He commonly played point guard with Nolan StierNolanStier6'2" | SGStewartville | 2021StateMN not available and Will did a nice job of getting others touches in good spots when he was drawing all the attention. We already spoke about the many ways Will scored (jumpers, attack moves, back to the basket scores, and off the ball active buckets) and he easily dominated the glass moving the Caledonia bigs away from the paint without much effort.   It was the performance of a top Mr. Basketball contender. Three. The Frustrating Whistles. Tschetter took 26 shots for the game but didn’t get to shoot a free throw until the seven minute mark of the first half (shot five for the game). The amount of contact he had to put up with without a whistle was quite shocking. That would be fine if two of his first three foul calls he received weren’t so weak. One was a double at near half court where he pivoted and the official seemed to think his pivot was far too physical. Will also walled up and a player went straight into his side and somehow Tschetter was called for a foul. Once these whistles came Tschetter had to play the rest of the game more tentatively while he was being forearm shrugged, yanked on, and body smacked every other possession. It was frustrating to watch (and by the way, Caledonia did exactly what they should of competing with the right gameplan).   Even more frustrating was once Will was hampered with foul trouble the game went from a Tiger 2-3 score lead to a Caledonia 2-3 second lead. Take away the weak second foul call and who knows how the game flow goes. Four. Kunelius is a Solid Prospect.   They way Andrew KuneliusAndrewKunelius6'0" | SGCaledonia | 2021MN put up his 21 points, nine boards, and five assists caught my eye. Andrew – a senior – is a lot more athletic than I was aware of. Of course the dunk in this game and in previous games shows that, but some of his attacks into finishes on the move caught my eye more than anything. I liked how fluid Andrew was with his attack and although he didn’t have an amazing shooting night percentage wise (7 of 17, 41 percent which is okay) the body controlled on the right side getting into his completion was eye opening. A tough defender, went after the boards as well as anybody on his team, and an all around active player that I think could make for a solid college basketball prospect. Five. The Top 10 Prospects. Will TschetterWillTschetter6'9" | PFStewartville | 2021State#96NationMN of Stewartville – Headed to Michigan Eli KingEliKing6'3" | PGCaledonia | 2022State#157NationMN of Caledonia (Jr) – Injured and out for the year Sam PrivetSamPrivet6'9" | PFCaledonia | 2021StateMN of Caledonia (Sr) – Sam had a quiet game but finished well late to get to his 11 points and four boards Austin KlugAustinKlug6'4" | SGCaledonia | 2021StateMN of Caledonia (Sr) – Did not play Nolan StierNolanStier6'2" | SGStewartville | 2021StateMN of Stewartville (Sr) – Did not play Jackson Kopeke (Jr) – Finished with 11 points, eight boards, and five assists, solid all around player Andrew KuneliusAndrewKunelius6'0" | SGCaledonia | 2021MN of Caledonia (Sr) – I’m looking forward to seeing Andrew again as I think he could be a top 100 kid in the senior class potentially Casey SchultzCaseySchultz6'3" | SFCaledonia | 2021MN of Caledonia (Sr) – Mixed in a lot of physical defensive production with a couple threes on his way to 15 points and six boards Eli Klavetter of Stewartville (Jr) – Junior forward stepped in and helped the Tigers who led for much of the first half. Finished with 10 points, seven boards, and five assists JsShon Simpson of Caledonia (Jr) – Did not play