Thielen takes over as top scorer for W/H-N boys basketball

The Wheaton/Herman-Norcross boys basketball team had its season end with a 74-51 loss at Parkers Prairie in the second round of the Section 6A Boys Basketball Tournament.

The Warriors, who ended the season with a 10-15 overall record, opened up the tourney with a 76-33 victory over CGB last Monday at Wheaton.  W/H-N was the seventh seed in its half of the section, while CGB was seeded 10th.

West Central Area earned the top seed in W/H-N’s half of the section, while Parkers Prairie was seeded second, Hancock third, and Ashby fourth.  Henning was the top seed in the other half of the section.

West Central Area won the Pheasant Conference title with an 8-0 league mark and is 23-2 overall.  Hancock (5-3, 17-8 overall) was second, while the Warriors (4-4, 10-15) were third, Ortonville (2-6, 6-15) was fourth, and Clinton-GB (1-7, 1-22) was fifth.

Seniors lost to graduation from this year’s team are Nick Lupkes, Matthew Thielen, Logan Birchem, David Fuentes, and Michael Franzese.  “We had a good year with a great group of kids,” coach Jordon Roos said.  

Among the individual highlights of the season, Matt Thielen ended his high school career with 1,701 career points, which ranks him No. 1 on the all-time W/H-N boys basketball points list.  He led the conference this year, averaging 23.5 point per game.

The only W/H-N basketball player with more points is Kristi Kremer, who graduated in 1985 with 1,760 career points.

In addition, Dylan Bainbridge led the conference in assists per game with 5.0, and Clint Determan broke the single-season steals’ record with 80 this season.

Members of this year’s W/H-N boys basketball team, coached by head coach Jordon Roos and assistant coach Dan Rinke, are seniors Nick Lupkes, Matthew Thielen, Logan Birchem, David Fuentes, and Michael Franzese; juniors Andrew Stueve and Jakob Edwards; sophomore Zach Braaten; and ninth-graders Dylan Bainbridge, Clint Determan, Andrew Walker-Henneman, and Grant Dawson.  Student managers were Aurora Johnson, Kiara Lupkes, and Marlene Guzman. 

Thielen led the Warriors with 615 points this season (23.7 average), and led the team in three-point shooting percentage (34 percent) and free-throw shooting (78 percent).  Franzese was the top shooter on two-point field goals with at least 50 tries, shooting 57 percent.

Other top scorers were Clint Determan, with 223 points (8.6 points per game average), Dylan Bainbridge, with 220 (85 ppg), Michael Franzese, with 182 (7 ppg), Nick Lupkes, with 159 (6.1 ppg), and Zach Braaten, with 107 (4.1 ppg).

Determan led the Warriors with 201 rebounds, followed by Lupkes (136), Braaten (111), Bainbridge (97), Franzese (91), and Thielen (89), and Determan also had a team-high 80 steals, followed by Lupkes with 59, Bainbridge with 55, and Thielen with 42.

Lupkes led W/H-N with 117 assists, just ahead of Bainbridge, who had 113, while Determan was third, with 66, and Thielen was fourth, with 41.