SLEEPY EYE – The Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s boys’ basketball team returned to the state tournament this season for the first time since 2006.
One big reason for that was junior Carson Domeier’s improved play, specifically his shot.
This high level of play not only helped get the Knights to the Class A state tournament, but it also saw Domeier named the Tomahawk Conference Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year. Adding one more accomplishment to his list, Domeier was also named the 2021 All-Journal Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year as voted on by The Journal’s sports staff.
Domeier said he was thankful for being named Player of the Year by both the conference and The Journal and credited his teammates.
“It’s just a credit to my teammates, it helped the way we played together,” Domeier said. “That just makes me a better player overall, too. I think all the work I put in in the offseason just kind of showed what I was capable of and what I’m capable of doing in the future.”
Going back to the improvements he made, Domeier said that his biggest jumps from last season came on the offensive end.
“I worked on my shooting a lot this year,” Domeier said. “I had a pretty good year of shooting. And probably just running the floor better, pushing in transition, ballhandling I got a lot better at, too. Defense – got to put some work in on that this summer, too. Got to keep improving all-around yet.”
Domeier and the Knights went 20-4 overall this season and won the conference with a 14-2 mark. After falling to Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Feb. 26, the Knights rolled to nine consecutive victories – four in the Section 2A playoffs – to make it to the state tournament. They then won their 10th game in a row in a state-tourney game with Central Minnesota Christian, beating the Bluejays 86-73 at Mankato East High School.
The Knights’ season came to end at the Target Center in the state semifinals after a 65-53 loss to Hancock. Despite ending up a win shy of making the state finals, Domeier was proud of he and his team’s efforts to make it as far as they did and has his sights set on making another run next season.
“That was a pretty cool experience, if you ask me,” Domeier said of making it to state. “I think my teammates would say the same thing. When you start the season, we set goals. Our first goal was to win the conference, and we did that, and then contend for a section title. Once we got there, we got to state. We wanted to go a little farther, but when you look back, it was a pretty cool experience. … Overall, it was just a great season. Our seniors, they really helped us and had good leadership, every one of them. Braden , Lux and Goblirsch, we’re going to miss them next year, but next year should be a fun year, too.”
Domeier said that the team will have to get bigger and stronger in the offseason to make another push next year.
“We’re just going to have to get bigger and stronger,” Domeier said. “We lost probably our two biggest guys in Jacob Lux and Kyle Goblirsch this year, and we lost our sixth man, too. So we’re going to have to have some guys step up. And I’m sure Judd will get us in the weight room, get us going pretty soon to get improved. Because some of those younger classmen, they’re going to have to step up next year if we want to make a run.”
Currently, Domeier is playing with the Knights’ baseball team and also had his first AAU basketball tournament this past weekend with the Minnesota Rise.