Jaguars boys basketball team advances to Sub-Section 6AA-East championship, Defeats Melrose Area 64-52

Also, a HUGE upset in Section 3AA... #4-seeded Montevideo knocked out the 6th-ranked team in Class AA, the Maccray Wolverines. Final score at Southwest State University in Marshall was 61-53. Ouch that hurts if you're a Wolverine fan!

The Jaguars advance to next Tuesday's sub-section championship at 7:00pm at St.John's University in Collegeville. They will face NL-S or Albany. It will be the first sub-section championship appearance for the B-B-E Jaguars since 2005, when they repeated as Section 5A-South champions.

Overall in B-B-E history, the Jaguars have played in sub-section or district championships in 1992, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2005, and now 2009.

The Jaguars are 24-4 overall now. They set a new school record for overall wins at B-B-E in boys basketball with tonight's win.

Melrose Area finishes 11-15.

In tonight's win over Melrose, the Jaguars held a huge 32-10 advantage in points off of turnovers. They were led by Jared McCleary's 16 points and 8 rebounds. Shane Weller and Kevin Kuefler were the other two Jaguars in double figures, with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

The Dutchmen jumped in front 4-0 before the Jaguars went on a 10-0 run after McCleary's shot just inside the arc started the scoring for B-B-E.

Norway Lake/Sunburg's 106.5 FM "The Train" and Glenwood's Smooth Magic 107 brought the game to the airwaves tonight. The will also broadcast next Tuesday's sub-section championship game. It will be fun.

**Update on Sunday morning... In Sub-Section 6AA-West, final score in the 2nd semi-final game at UM-Morris = Staples-Motley 61, Breckenridge 55.

NL-S trounced Albany 84-63. They earned two 3's in the game's opening minutes and never looked back. The Wildcats raced out to leads of 11-4, 20-8, 30-17 (with 7:15 left in the first half), and 48-31 with 91 seconds left before halftime.

Out west... In Section 6AA-West, Morris Area defeated Benson 78-62 at the University of Minnesota-Morris campus. The Tigers led 31-25 after a back-and-forth first half played out.

Also, Hancock fell to Wheaton-Herman-Norcross 65-60 in Section 6A.

• The Section 6AA Final Four looks like this:

Morris Area (22-4) vs. Staples-Motley (20-8) at 8:00pm on Tuesday, March 17, at the University of Minnesota-Morris.
B-B-E (24-4) vs. New London-Spicer (21-8) at 7:00pm at St.John's University on Tuesday, March 17.

All four teams are conference champions. Staples-Motley was sole champion of the Mid-State Conference. NL-S won the West Central North Conference, with Morris Area taking the West Central South. B-B-E was the Central Minnesota Conference champions.

Update at 9:10pm... Pierz is ahead of St.Cloud Cathedral by 13 points with 4 minutes left in the game. No exact score available.

Section 5AA scores, including Central Minnesota Conference teams...
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 54, Foley 49
Pierz 71, St.Cloud Cathedral 52
Sibley East 74, Watertown-Mayer 58

Pierz closed the game against St.Cloud Cathedral with a big 23-4 run. Standout forward Tyler Monson scored 28 points for the Pioneers.

It was a great night for the Central Minnesota Conference...now 3 of the teams from the CMC will play in a sub-section championship game, next Tuesday night. HL-W-W and Pierz will actually face eachother, in the Sub-Section 5AA-North title game. That will be a battle!

Section 3A score:
Ortonville 57, Canby 52 (3A-North sub-section final)

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