A scoring surge by North Woods late in the first half and early in the second half was too much to overcome Saturday for Littlefork-Big Falls’ boys basketball team.
The Vikings trailed 46-29 at halftime and fell behind by more than 20 points early in the second half before losing their Section 7A quarterfinal game to the Grizzlies, 83-70, at Hibbing Memorial Arena.
“We stayed in our diamond-and-one (defense) too long in the first half,” said L-BF head coach Jeff Maish. “That’s my fault.
“We should have recognized (that) a little sooner. Elijah Dotts went off and made some shots. We took (Andrew) Anderson away in the first half.
“In the second half we came out and put a little pressure on them. I’m still kicking myself. We should have put that press on earlier to see what they had.”
Anderson ended up with 29 points, including four 3-pointers, while Dotts added 22 points with two baskets from behind the arc.
In addition to applying a full-court pressure defense to force turnovers in the second half, Maish said he also told the L-BF players to work the ball inside on offense.
“The only thing I was disappointed in the first half was that we weren’t cutting, when we were getting the ball, into the lane,” he said. “We were standing outside and watching.”
Three Vikings scored in double figures led by Garrett Larson with 27 points, followed by Taylor DeLack with 16 and Jeff Fry with 12.
L-BF ended the season 13-11 overall. Saturday’s game closed out the high school careers of three seniors — Larson, Fry and Tyler Vork. Larson ended the season as the Vikings’ all-time career scoring leader.
“The locker room was pretty emotional (following Saturday’s game),” Maish said. “Those three seniors are the heart and soul of what we did this year. It was big for us to have those three. When I lose three seniors like these guys, it’s tough to replace.”
NW 83, L-BF 70
L-BF 29 41 — 70
NW 46 37 — 83
L-BF: Taylor DeLack 16, Garrett Larson 27, Tyler Vork 6, Rylan Henrickson 2, Jacob Franz 1, Bryce Burmeister 6, Jeff Fry 8. 3-pointers: DeLack 4, Larson, Vork. Free throws: 10-18. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: DeLack, Fry.
NW: Karl Reichel 7, Elijah Dotts 22, Andrew Anderson 29, Jordan Villebrun 8, Alex Bruns 9, T.J. Sather 8. 3-pointers: Anderson 4, Dotts 2. Free throws: 11-23. Fouls: 18.
