Cass Lake-Bena at Fertile-Beltrami

Recap

Fertile-Beltrami – 72 vs. Cass Lake-Bena – 73

Fertile, MN — The Cass Lake-Bena Panthers outlasted the Fertile-Beltrami Falcons in an early season Section matchup that went the distance seeing the Panthers win 73-72.

It was an anticlimactic start to the game as Cass Lake-Bena was hit with a technical foul for dunking during warmups and Fertile-Beltrami was awarded two free throws and the ball. Fertile-Beltrami’s Derek Sorenson made one of two free throws and the Falcons took advantage on the first possession to quickly get out to the early lead. The Falcons made their run but as they say, basketball is a game of runs resulting in the Panthers making one of their own to keep the game close. Both teams would go back and forth and the Panthers lead 39-37 at the break.

In half two, Cass Lake-Bena came out hot resulting in getting out to their largest lead of the game, nine points, but once again Fertile-Beltrami stayed tough and chipped back into that deficit; In the latter part of half two, Derek Sorenson drilled a go-ahead three pointer to take the late lead by one. But the Falcons would foul Dominic Fairbank on the other end and allow him to take the lead back with a pair of free throws. After a jump ball that went the Falcons way in their own offensive end, the final play would come by way of a baseline out of bound play. with 2.6 seconds remaining. The Falcons stacked up on the left lane line looking for Caiden Swenby on a lob to the rim that wasn’t open but rather found Derek Sorenson popping out on the left wing for a three but it was deflected and the Panthers would hang on to win 73-72.

Cass Lake-Bena is now 2-0 and will be on the road again on Thursday at Red Lake. Fertile-Beltrami falls to 2-1 and won’t play again until next Tuesday when they travel to Lake Park-Audubon.

Cass Lake-Bena Panthers Stats

Kaydin Lee 27 pts 7 rebs
Kingsly Whitebird 18 pts 3 rebs
Dominic Fairbanks 17 pts 1 reb
Josh Graves 8 pts 1 reb
TrayVaughn Been 4 pts 6 rebs
Tatelyn Boswell 4 pts 5 rebs
Aiden White 2 pts 1 reb

14 Turnovers
14-21 FT’s – 61%

Fertile-Beltrami Falcons Stats

Caiden Swenby 24 pts 12 rebs
Derek Sorenson 19 pts 5 rebs
Masen Nowacki 10 pts 3 rebs
Isaiah Wright 9 pts 3 rebs
Ryan Van Den Einde 5 pts 6 rebs
Preston Hanson 5 pts 3 rebs

14 Turnovers
20-28 FT’s – 71%