No. 5 Moose Lake-Willow River runs away in the second half in 66-48 victory over Broncos
DULUTH — International Falls’ impressive season came to an end Thursday in a 66-48 loss to No. 5 Moose Lake-Willow River in the Section 7AA semifinals at Romano Gymnasium at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
The Broncos’ ice-cold offense against the Rebels’ quick and athletic attack turned into a recipe for disaster. Trailing by only seven at the break, 28-21, International Falls couldn’t buy a basket to open the second half, and an opportunistic Rebels squad went on a 17-2 run to take a 45-23 lead.
They never looked back en route to their 22nd win in a row and will face Virginia today in the section championship. The Blue Devils (25-4) defeated No. 2 Braham (25-4) 80-67 in the other semifinal matchup on Thursday.
“Tough when you can’t shoot the ball. I didn’t think the guys let up at all. They kept going and going and going and that’s all you can ask,” Broncos head coach Derek Dowty said before giving credit to the Rebels’ defensive effort. “Shots didn’t fall. Those shots have been falling for us all year.”
Shawn Filipiak scored a team-high 15 points for the Broncos (24-5), but most of them came late with the game out of reach. Ben Humbert tallied 11 points and Trevar Carlson scored eight points.
“I thought we were going to come out strong in the second half and take the lead, but it went the opposite way,” said Filipiak, who had four points and three fouls in the first half.
Trevor Nummela led Moose Lake-Willow River (27-2) with a game-high 21 points, while Taylor Mattison added 11 points and Ryan Adamczak 10 points.
During the game-deciding run to open the second half, the Broncos didn’t record their first field goal until Filipiak hit Carlson for an alley-oop layup with 9:29 to play. Prior to that, the Broncos missed 10 shots (including a dunk by Filipiak), turned it over three times and had a jump ball go to the Rebels. The two points came on free throws from Humbert.
“If we come out and shoot like a normal night, this game is a lot closer,” Dowty said.
Nummela admitted they’ve been shutting teams down all season, and the numbers prove it. During the 22-game win streak, the Rebels have surrendered more than 60 points just once. They’re giving up just over 45 points on average during the impressive stretch.
“People have been saying other teams are shooting cold, but we have hands up on shooters and pressure on the ball,” Nummela said.
“Mentally, we kept our composure. Hit a couple big shots,” he added. “Couldn’t say defense enough.”
The Broncos, who sank only one 3-pointer, made one last-ditch run and cut the lead to 49-36 with just under five minutes to play, but the Rebels silenced the large Bronco crowd at the free-throw line.
“Hats off to Moose Lake. They’re athletic,” Humbert said. “We just weren’t on tonight. We wanted to play our hearts out for these seniors and get them to state, but it was just one of those games.”
This was International Falls’ first section semifinal in 10 years, and the 24 wins are the most in school history (eclipsing 23 wins in 2006-07).
“These guys have nothing to hang their head about,” Dowty said. “I know it’s tough now, but they’ll look back and be happy.”
Game notes
• The Broncos’ only 3-pointer came from Andre McMillion with under two minutes to play. They made 19 field goals, but four (including the 3-pointer) came in garbage time with under four minutes remaining.
• Nummela scored 10 and Adamczak had five of the Rebels’ first 17 points to open the second half.
• Bronco seniors Nick Bujold (4:45) and Carlson (2:01) fouled out. Fellow senior Ethan Johns was in street clothes for his third straight game, according to Dowty, but the second-year coach wouldn’t disclose the reason.
• Filipiak was asked if he had any final thoughts on the season. “Good year. Fought a lot. All for Roger,” he said. Long-time Borderland sports enthusiast Roger Jerome passed away June 16, and the Broncos honored the former basketball coach by having “Jerome” across the back of their warm-up jersey.
