By Randy Wilker
Sports Correspondent
It was almost deja vú all over again for the Minster Wildcats Tuesday evening in the second game of the Division IV sectionals semifinal at Coldwater. With 42 seconds left in the game, senior Matt McCollum drilled a three-point basket that gave the New Bremen Cardinals a 47-46 lead, but this time the Wildcats recovered and defeated the Cardinals 50-47.

“Each team knows everything about the other team,” Minster head coach Mike Lee said. “When you play each other in such a short span, there is not a lot of secrets. Both of us are low possession teams and tonight every possession in this team was very valuable.”
Going into the fourth quarter, the Wildcats held a slim 34-30 and increased that to 36-30 on a layup by Sam Otting with a minute gone in the fourth quarter. Just as quickly, New Bremen caught up with a pair of free throws by Scott Schnelle and a basket by McCollum with 6:25 left.
“We kept playing hard and kept battling,” New Bremen head coach Mike Ernst said. “We just couldn’t get over the hump. We had opportunities and shots. I think the game went as expected. It was nip and tuck the whole way and it pretty much went as we expected.”
Minster kept the lead at four on a pair of free throws by Andrew Baumer, but the Cardinals tied the game going inside with baskets by Spencer Rohr and Andy Timmerman to tie the game at 38-all with 4:33 left.
Keith Nerderman grabbed a 46-42 lead on a jumper with 2:22 left, but again, just as quickly, New Bremen got a pair of free throws from Schnelle with 2:04 and just like last Friday McCollum stepped up and nailed a bomb to give the Cardinals a 47-46 lead with 42 seconds left.
After a Minster timeout, Brian Mueller regained the lead on a jumper with 26 seconds left, causing a timeout by New Bremen.
“We covered every type of scenario getting ready for this game last night in practice,” Lee said. “We just kind of looked at each other and my Lord here it comes again. Andy hit a couple free throws and ultimately if they were going to hit that final shot it was going to be with a hand in their face.”
The Cardinals brought the ball up, but Nerderman came up with a big steal for Minster and the Cardinals were forced to foul with 6.7 seconds left and Nerderman converted both free throws for the 50-47 lead. New Bremen brought the ball to midcourt and called timeout with four seconds left, but an off-balanced shot was no good giving the Wildcats the victory.
“They switched defenses on us,” Ernst said. “We didn’t handle it very well. It didn’t come as a surprise, but we didn’t execute the play very well. I thought I should have called timeout and reset the play.”
“They never went away and I knew they wouldn’t,” Lee said. “They even grabbed the lead but the composure of our kids. It was Nerderman who came down and got that one-point lead back for us. Both teams gave 110 percent on the floor and that is the way it should be at tournament time.”
Both teams battled back and forth in the first quarter with the lead trading hands seven times before New Bremen grabbed an 8-7 lead on a layup by Schnelle at the buzzer.
“In terms of execution, I thought our kids did an excellent job from late first quarter into the second quarter,” Lee said. “I thought we got our biggest lead during that stretch and coming into halftime, even though we are up four or five, we knew that they were going to go to their bread and butter and their bread and butter was more than we could handle at times inside.”
Minster (10-11) regained the lead in the second quarter with a layup by Nerderman and increased it to 11-8 on a pair of free throws from Logan Sommer. With the score 13-12 and four minutes left, Minster outscored the Cardinals 7-3 to lead at halftime 20-15.
“We kept playing hard,” Ernst said. “I don’t fault our kids’ effort and I thought we kept making plays. I never thought we were out of the game and I never thought we were safe in the lead, but that is just the way the game goes.”
In the third quarter, the Cardinals doubled their score, but could only gain a point as the Wildcats continued to hold a 34-30 lead.
This was the final game for three of the Cardinals' senior players. McCollum, Schnelle and Bensman played their final game for the Cardinals.
“Schnelle has been a big factor for us all year,” Ernst concluded. “All three of our seniors played a good game tonight. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
The Cardinals finish the season at 12-9.