Nevis Boys’ B-Ball Uses Height to Make 5th Straight State Tourney Appearance

Some say basketball is more about height than it is about skill, but what about when you have both? Nevis boys’ basketball can answer that, as they’ve utilized both their length and ability to reach their fifth consecutive state tournament.

On the hardwood, the Nevis Tigers used their height to dominate down low. Center Alex Lester and forward A.J. Bessler regularly tower over opponents on the block.

“Size is one of the biggest advantages in basketball,” said Lester. “When we have tall guys that can score in the paint, it just opens up everything for the rest of the team.”

“They can’t really stop both of us the same time,” explained Bessler. “If they put a big guy on Alex, there’s a little guy on me. Mismatch for me. If they put a big guy on me, [they got] a little guy on Alex and it’s a mismatch for Alex.”

At times, their large 6’9″ and 6’6″ frames can make it tough to share the paint, but they’ve learned how to work in tandem.

“He shares the ball well,” Bessler said of Lester. “When I’m open on the block, he usually passes to me.”

Lester reciprocated his teammate’s sentiments: “I can just kind of throw it up to him and he’s going to catch it and score the ball. He can also get rebounds really well.”

The pair combined for 47 of the team’s 80 points in their Section 5A championship win over Upsala, and 50 of their 78 versus Browerville in the semifinals.

“Alex has really gotten his footwork to be where he’s got a whole variety of moves, which is really fun to watch,” said head coach Scott Kramer of the senior captain. “And A.J. just has an instinct for the ball that’s just uncanny, you know? And that’s why he’s just an unbelievably good rebounder.”

“And so, again,” Kramer continued, “playing off each other, they’ve just gotten better and better the more they’ve played.”

But they aren’t the only ones getting better. The Tigers’ sixth man, 6’5″ junior forward Ethan Buckholtz, has picked up a thing or two from the duo.

“I’ve learned a lot,” he said. “Especially having to guard them every day in practice made me a lot better defender and them guarding me has helped me develop some moves in the post.”

The dominance of the big men has helped balance an offense that is averaging 81 points per game as well.

“It just gives us so many opportunities,” said senior guard Isaac Bessler, A.J.’s cousin. “There’s opportunities for them to score and then opportunities for kick outs on threes. So, we’re getting looks everywhere on the court and it really opens things up.”

And Nevis is using that offense to help with defense, because despite the length they use to protect the rim, it can be difficult to stop a guard-heavy lineup, something they’ll see from their state quarterfinal opponent, Henning.

“We have to stop their perimeter game,” said Kramer. “They are really phenomenal, drive and dish and knockdown threes. We have to use our advantage to our advantage to really try to put pressure on them in the paint with Lester and Bessler, and be able to get the ball in the paint and score and put pressure on the defense that way.”

Nevis enters the Class A state tournament as the #4 seed, and their game against #5 seed Henning is Thursday, March 20th at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis with a 1 p.m. tip-off. The Tigers beat the Hornets earlier this season 63-57.