Another thriller on the basketball court for B-B-E -- Boys' Turn This Time -- Jaguars Basketball Earns Second Win of the Season, 48-47 Over Maple Lake

This shot by Josh Roelike went through for two points in the first half. His shot identical to this one, from 15 feet out, also dropped with 22 seconds left for the game's final razor-thin margin.

What a game. A large crowd at the High School, complete with the B-B-E Pep Band, witnessed an incredible performance on the hardwood from their Boys in Blue & Silver tonight. Maple Lake came to town with a 12-8 overall record, 6-3 in the CMC, and had just defeated Eden Valley-Watkins 56-53 two nights ago. Eden Valley had the inside track on the number-one seed in Sub-Section 5AA-20. So after Maple Lake put a huge wrinkle into Eden Valley's designs on a top playoff seed, our Jaguars followed that by putting a big wrinkle into Maple Lake's hopes of a top seed. Maple Lake had beaten Paynesville 77-71 and had an excellent 7-1 record since a 66-56 loss to Pierz on January 16, coming on strong and appearing as the top team in the sub-section. The top five teams in S.S. 20 are very balanced, and the only thing certain is Paynesville has two wins over New London-Spicer, giving them the edge between those two teams. Now our Jaguars have shown they can play two halves of basketball in the same night, and they will not back down to anyone as they go through the final games of the regular season. You can all but throw the records out of the window every night for the remainder of the season in the Central Minnesota Conference.

In tonight's game, after building a lead as big as 24-17 in the first half, the Jaguars went into the locker room leading 28-26. In the second half, after trailing only twice (32-30 with 13:44 left, 47-46 with 0:45 left), they came through at the end with a nearly flawless performance in the game's final four minutes. Josh Roelike's long-range jumper with 22 seconds on the clock put the Jaguars ahead, and their defense held on to force a wide-left three-point shot by the Irish at the buzzer.

A simply fascinating evening of boys basketball throughout the Central Minnesota Conference...having two of the eight overtime games in the state tonight.
Pierz 67 (7-2, 14-3), @ Eden Valley-Watkins 66 (6-4 CMC, 10-6)
@ Rockford 60 (9-0 CMC, 16-4), Kimball Area 57 (1-8 CMC, 4-12)Overtime! First place team and last place team
Holdingford 58 (5-4 CMC, 14-6), @ Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 51 (2-7 CMC, 8-11)Overtime!
Two conference games decided by one point, and the other two conference games decided in overtime. The Central Minnesota Conference suddenly was ridden with parity up and down the standings. Who would have guessed in a lifetime that Kimball would travel to Rockford and push the two-time defending CMC champion Rockets into overtime? Then Pierz holds onto its chances of repeating as CMC co-champs by barely getting out of Eden Valley with a win. The Eagles, meanwhile, seem to be in a tailspin, losing two straight conference games, and five of its past seven games overall. Then our B-B-E Jaguars breath new life into their season by defeating Maple Lake, essentially taking the Irish out of the conference race (coming into the game at 6-3, they had an outside chance of gaining CMC hardware). Almost worse, though, is that the loss to our Jaguars will hurt the Irish at playoff seeding time. It is a huge step in the right direction for first-year Head Coach Chuck Thompson's squad.

Updated boys Central Minnesota Conference Standings:
Rockford (9-0)
Pierz (7-2)
Eden Valley (6-4)
Maple Lake (6-4)
Holdingford (5-4)
Howard Lake (2-7)
B-B-E (1-8)
Kimball (1-8)

From a game not having any bearing on B-B-E sports, but from our neighbors to the north: @ Melrose 59, Sauk Centre 57, 2 OVERTIMES. If Sauk would have won, they would have pulled into a tie for first place in the West Central North Conference with Melrose, who won the first meeting in overtime at Sauk Centre. If they meet up in the Sub-Section 6AA-West playoffs, it will be one bruising basketball game. Tonight in Minnesota there were eight games decided in extra sessions, six in single overtime, and two in double overtime. What a night for high school basketball in Minnesota.

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