Bennie basketball opens their season with annual Tip-Off Tournament

Last weekend, the CSB basketball team opened its season with their home tipoff tournament. The Bennies finished 2-0, winning the tournament. On Friday, they beat the University of Minnesota-Morris 91-57 and Saturday they pulled off a close game with a 51-50 win over Bethany Lutheran. Senior Megan Morgan said the tournament showed they have a very well-balanced team with scoring, which makes them a hard team to defend. In the past, they’ve had one or two main scorers, but now they’re more well-rounded. During the close Bethany Lutheran game, the team remained focused to pull off the win.

“We were focusing on what we’ve been practicing on especially those late game situations, which helped us out a lot,” Morgan said.

In preparation for the season, the team has been doing a lot of work in the preseason.

“We did a lot of open gyms, captain led stuff and our lifts have been important. We’ve had really good attendance with all of this,” Morgan said.

Being her senior season, Morgan said she is excited to play with fellow seniors Kira Young and Megan Driste one last time as they’ve all been playing together since freshman year.

“As a team, we are so excited to go to Colorado over Thanksgiving and play some games,” Morgan said.

Sophomore Drew Buslee said the games last weekend helped the team with areas they need to improve on.

“A lot of our weaknesses showed up, so now we know what to do in practice,” Buslee said.

During the Bethany Lutheran game, CSB’s post players had to work hard to defend against Bethany’s tall players. It was a physical game, but Buslee said the posts did a great job. Buslee said head coach Mike Durbin does a great job of preparing for the season.

“Mike does a good job of telling everyone what to do and giving everyone their roles. He prepares us well and has us work hard in practice,” Buslee said.

Looking ahead to the season, Buslee is excited to play Gustavus because her twin brother plays basketball there. Senior Kira Young said the team had a successful weekend winning their tournament.

“I think both games were great learning opportunities for our team. We shot the ball really well on Friday night which was super fun for our home opener. On Saturday, our shots weren’t falling, but our defense won us the game, which is one thing we’ve worked on the most coming into this season,” Young said.

Going into the season, the team has goals they wanted to hit.

“One of our main goals was to become more aggressive on defense, forcing other teams to turn over the ball. We also wanted to use our quickness to run other teams up and down the floor. Lastly, we think we can be a top 3 team in the MIAC,” Young said.

As a senior, Young is looking forward to this last season with her teammates.

“I just want to make the most of my senior season, enjoying every minute of it. I’m also looking forward to our trip to Colorado over Thanksgiving break,” Young said.

Head Coach Mike Durbin said this tournament showed how hard his players work and their athleticism.

“The benefit of the tournament was we had to play two different styles of basketball and our team was able to do this successfully,” Durbin said.

For the Bethany game, the team relied on their defensive preparation to stay in the game.

“Offensively, we missed a lot of easy shots, but you’re always going to have games like that. It’s good to know we have a team that can defend and find a way to win,” Durbin said.

Durbin said the players established goals for the season.

“It’s my job to help them achieve these goals. What do you think we’re capable of and then how can the coaching staff help you get there,” Durbin said.

Additionally, the team wants to win more games at home and return to the conference playoffs. Durbin said it was also exciting to win their tipoff tournament as they haven’t done this in the last few years. Durbin said he is excited for the season and the team he has this year.

“I’m really enjoying this group because I don’t have to coach their effort. We’re also really excited for the Colorado trip at Thanksgiving and the experience we can provide for our student athletes. I also believe it’s a challenging schedule and whenever you have challenges that makes it more fun when you’re successful,” Durbin said.