By Jake Schroer
Crow River News Sports
The STMA basketball team defeated North Branch and Chisago Lakes before taking a tough loss against Maple Grove.
Xavier Thurman’s 18 points carried the evening for the Knights in an 83-54 win Tuesday night.
STMA had four other players reach double figures. Asaba Chomilo scored 15, Mitchell Kartes scored 13, Cody Mattson had 13 and Travis Brown had 11.
The Knights had a nice burst in the first half, which led to a 42-30 lead at halftime.
STMA took care of business in the second half, holding the Vikings to just 24 points as they pulled away for the win.
“We got some passing lanes, we got some transition baskets which can jumpstart an offense when you’re getting a lot of easy buckets,” head coach Derek Anderson said. Anderson also noted that the team seemed to be playing well in the current stretch.
CHISAGO LAKES
Cody Mattson scored 21 points to lead the Knights to a 79-59 victory over the Chisago Lakes Wildcats Friday night.
STMA led 46-37 at halftime. They would widen that lead in the second half with defense, limiting the Wildcats to 22 points.
Mattson and three other Knights scored in double figures. Xavier Thurman had 18 points, Asaba Chomilo scored 14 and Mitchell Kartes scored 10.
MAPLE GROVE
The Knights had great difficulty stopping Brad Davison as the Maple Grove Crimson defeated STMA by a score of 84-57.
Davison scored 31 points in a game that saw the Knights fall down by 19 points at the half.
Asaba Chomilo scored 26, but he got little offensive help as the next leading scorer was Mitchell Kartes with 11. Xavier Thurman contributed with nine points.
The loss ended a three-game winning streak for the Knights, who had previously won six of the past seven games.
The Knights played rival Buffalo on Valentines’ Day. They host Monticello on Friday and travel to Chaska on Saturday looking to keep up the recent hot streak.