It was a foot race from the tip off, and the Jaguars boys basketball team won handily tonight against visiting Underwood 99-44 to open up the sub-section playoffs at home. The Rockets (9-18) hung around with the Jaguars for the first few minutes, but after they cut it to a one point game at a 10-9 deficit, the host Jaguars went on a tear and lit up the visitors to the tune of 19 unanswered points. With 9:22 left in the first half, the Jaguars led 29-9. With 8:20 left in the first half, Brady Koehler penetrated in the lane and made the score B-B-E 36, Underwood 9.
The halftime score was 66-24 in favor of the Jaguars. The starters ran the floor for the first four minutes of the second half, and then were replaced in one shot after they had built an 84-27 lead.
Visit the Sauk Centre Herald website to view a photo gallery from the game: http://saukherald.mycapture.com
Up next: a sub-section semifinal game on Saturday, March 12, at 6:00pm at Jim Gremmels Court at the University of Minnesota-Morris. Their opponent will be #5 seed Brandon/Evansville, who defeated Ashby tonight 67-64 in overtime. I heard that the visiting Chargers, who are in the same conference with Ashby, trailed by 14 points at halftime. That had to have been an incredible game to be at, especially for the Chargers fans. Brandon/Evansville hammered Ashby 60-40 on December 14, then capped a four-game losing streak with a loss in Ashby 55-53 on January 28 - your basic conference series between two very familiar, neighboring rival I-94 (technically, Douglas County Road 82) teams.
The game will be a rematch between the Jaguars and the Chargers. They faced off back in January on a Saturday afternoon. It would be best to forget what the score of that game was, because it doesn't matter. The Chargers will be a tough opponent and the Jaguars will have to have their "A" game in gear in order to advance.
The Jaguars are pulling away from the Rockets in the first half, after Underwood trailed 10-9 in the opening minutes of the game...
The final moments of the first half play out tonight against Underwood...
Sub-Section 6A-South quarterfinal results:
#2 Battle Lake 74, #7 Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 61
#3 Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 61, #11 Hancock 40
#5 Brandon/Evansville 67, #4 Ashby 64
Sub-Section 6A-North quarterfinal results:
#4 Ulen-Hitterdal 59, #5 New York Mills 56
#1 Ada-Borup 74, #8 Norman County West 35
#2 Barnesville 80, #7 Park Christian 37
Area boys basketball playoff results (not grouped by section yet):
Pierz 62, Albany 60
Sauk Centre 61, Holdingford 57
Minnewaska Area 69, Osakis 40
West Central Area 62, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 61 (a #6 seed upsets the heavily-favored #3 seed in two overtimes!)
Melrose Area 75, St.John's Prep 55
New London-Spicer survived an upset bid by winless Paynesville Area 86-71, the Bulldogs had the Wildcats on the ropes at halftime - in fact, with 4:47 left in the first half, the Bulldogs held a 28-25 lead!
Breckenridge 66, Benson 64 (Roger Lindahl's Braves have an early exit from the playoffs)
Maccray 70, Ortonville 62 (Wolverines get a scare from the #4 seed)
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 82, Rockford 56
Maple Lake 68, Milaca 53
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 69, Staples-Motley 44
Redwood Valley 56, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 41
Dawson-Boyd 73, Minneota 62
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