Section 8A BBB QF Fertile-Beltrami vs Cass Lake-Bena

Recap

Section 8A BBB QF Fertile-Beltrami 58 Cass Lake-Bena 57

Thief River Falls, MN — The Fertile-Beltrami Falcons snuck by the Cass Lake-Bena Panthers on Monday in in an absolute nail biter in the Quarterfinals of the Section 8A Boys Basketball Tournament.

These two teams played in one of the first games of the regular season in Fertile and it saw the Panthers coming away with the one point win but on Monday afternoon, it was the Falcons prevailing for the win. Cass Lake-Bena jumped out to a 12 point lead, 18-6, with eight minutes to go in the first half after Fertile-Beltrami had a hard time getting their offense started. The Falcons would outscore the Panthers in the final eight minutes of the half , 20-11, and only trailed by three points going into the locker room, 29-26.

In the second half, Cass Lake-Bena was able to keep the Falcons at arms length. Whenever Fertile-Beltrami would make a basket to cut it to within a possession, Cass Lake-Bena would hit a three to make it a two score game. That trend would keep up all the way until the 6:56 mark of the second half when Fertile-Beltrami would take the lead 52-51. Both teams would trade baskets and Fertile-Beltrami had a chance to ice the game away with free throws in the closing minute leading 56-54, but Fertile-Beltrami Junior Caiden Swenby missed the front end of a 1 and 1 give the Panthers life. Cass Lake-Bena would take advantage with an Aiden White three point play to take the lead 57-56 with just 20 seconds remaining. Fertile-Beltrami would get the final possession and after an initial missed shot by Falcons Preston Hanson, Senior Forward Ryan Van Den Einde was in the right place at the right time for the offensive rebound and put back as time expired to win 58-57.

Fertile-Beltrami will now play for the East Sub-Section Championship on Wednesday against the Fosston Greyhounds.

Fertile-Beltrami Falcons Stats

Derek Soreneson 19 pts 3 rebs
Caiden Swenby 14 pts 4 rebs
Ryan Van Den Einde 12 pts 6 rebs
Preston Hanson 6 pts 1 reb
Masen Nowacki 4 pts 1 reb
Isaiah Wright 3 pts 2 rebs

9-14 FT’s – 64%
17 Turnovers

Cass Lake-Bena Panthers

Dominic Staples-Fairbanks 15 pts 2 rebs
Aiden White 12 pts 1 reb
Kaydin Lee 11pts 3 rebs
Josh Graves 6 pts 3 rebs
Tatelyn Boswell 4 pts 2 rebs
Cole Cass 4 pts 4 rebs
Kingsly Whitebird 3 pts 3 rebs
TrayVaughn Lee 2 pts 2 rebs

2-4 FT’s – 50%
17 Turnovers