By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The New York Mills Eagles notched a big win in their regular season and home opener on Thursday night. The Eagles defeated the Verndale Pirates by a score of 85-43 to improve to 1-0 overall, as well as in the Park Region Conference.

NY Mills took an early 52-27 lead at halftime and held the visiting Pirates to just 16 points in the second half to open the season with a convincing conference victory.

Kolston Lofgren had a solid night from the floor as he finished with 23 points, while Sean Dresser went 5-8 from the floor to finish with 15 points to go along with three steals. Gage Brasel also reached double figures with 14 points on just 6-10 shooting to go with nine rebounds, while Bergen Roder scored 11 points, Heath Hammond and Jacob Thorsrud each finished with six points, Finn Roder scored five, Gannon Theisen scored three and Jeremy Kopveiler rounded out the scoring with two points in the win. 

The Eagles will have just one game on their schedule this week, another Park Region Conference game against Wadena-Deer Creek on the road on Thursday night, before heading to Frazee for a non-conference game against the Hornets on Tuesday, Dec. 16.

NEW YORK MILLS 85, VERNDALE 43

V (43): Zain Waldahl 1-3 3-4 5, Kyler Vertina 1-4 0-0 3, Carson Dick 0-0 0-0 0, Brady Messer 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson White 2-7 0-0 6, Chase Jensen 3-9 0-0 6, Zaiden Ziegler 0-2 0-0 0, Bryce Schmitz 3-4 0-0 7, Preston Pierce 0-0 2-2 2, Braylin DeLeon 3-10 1-2 9, Cooper Voeltz 0-2 0-0 0, Bryce Pickar 2-7 0-0 5. Totals 15-49 7-10 43.

NYM (85): Gage Brasel 6-10 0-1 14, Kolston Lofgren 8-17 0-0 23, Finn Roder 2-4 1-2 5, Bergen Roder 5-13 0-1 11, Heath Hammond 1-2 4-4 6, Eli Vaughan 0-6 0-0 0, Jacob Thorsrud 3-8 0-0 6, Sean Dresser 5-8 0-0 15, Carson Thorsrud 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremy Kopveiler 1-1 0-0 2, Gannon Theisen 1-2 0-0 3, Blake Hiltner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-71 5-8 85.

Halftime: NYM 52, V 27. 3-pointers: V 6-24 (Waldahl 0-2, Vertina 1-4, Messer 0-1, White 2-6, Jensen 0-3, Ziegler 0-1, Schmitz 1-2, DeLeon 2-5), NYM 16-38 (Vaughan 0-4, Brasel 2-4, Lofgren 7-11, B. Roder 1-9, Dresser 5-8, Theisen 1-2). Rebounds: V 32, NYM 41 (Brasel 9). Assists: V 12, NYM 10 (F. Roder 4). Steals: V 8, NYM 17 (F. Roder 3, J. Thorsrud 3, Dresser 3). Blocks: V 1, NYM 3 (J. Thorsrud 2). Turnovers: V 30, NYM 16. Fouls: V 7, NYM 15. Fouled out: none.