Ridiculous!

A ridiculously entertaining game played out tonight on our home court, when our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team took on the second-place Kimball Area Cubs in a Central Minnesota Conference battle.

At halftime, the Cubs led 26-16. The first half was tough for the Jaguars the whole way. They fell behind 26-12 with 4:31 on the clock, but their defense hung tough and proceeded to hold Kimball without a point up to halftime. Buckets by Ryan Illies and Ethan Schwinghammer narrowed the gap to 10 points.

After both teams traded buckets in the opening 30 seconds of the second half, Kimball's senior co-captain Hayden Gagnon buried a three-pointer with 15:15 on the clock. Soon after that, the Cubs got a layup for a 33-18 lead. Parker Schwinghammer then made a field goal, and Evan Wiener went two-for-two at the free throw line for a 33-22 deficit with 13:40 left. B-B-E was in the early stages of an incredible 11-0 run. When Parker Schwinghammer drained a shot in the lane with 9:50 left, they were then trailing 33-29.

The Cubs snapped the 11-0 run with a rebound shot in the paint by tall, smooth senior center Weston Hine at the 9:21 mark. Just 30 seconds later, Ashton Dingmann drained a three-pointer that got a huge portion of the B-B-E faithful to their feet. On the ensuing inbound of the ball, the Jaguars snared a turnover, and Wiener got fouled. He promptly swished two free throws to make it a one-point game. Roughly 50 seconds later, Wiener then drained a three-pointer that put the Jaguars ahead 37-35! The game hung in the balance, and there were still eight minutes left to play.

Later in the half, Ryan Illies scored in heavy traffic in the paint with 3:09 left. At that point, the Cubs led 42-41.

Final score: Kimball Area 45, B-B-E 44. The Cubs (12-3) made good on a "prayer" of a shot at the buzzer, with a three-pointer banking in as the horn sounded. It was fired before the clock ran out, giving the Cubs the win and keeping them one game out of first place. It was definitely one of the most entertaining and well-played basketball games I've watched in a long time. The Cubs entered the game with a scoring average of 65 points a game.

After a quick glance at the game stats, here's what the free throw numbers are: Kimball was 7-of-10 for the game, while the Jaguars went 7-of-12. Kimball was 4-of-9 on three-point tries, while the Jaguars were 5-of-18. Overall shooting percentages were almost dead-even: 42 percent for Kimball and 40 percent for B-B-E.

Eden Valley-Watkins and Kimball Area remain in a tie for second place at 5-1 each in the CMC; the Eagles hammered last-place Pierz on their home court tonight. CMC-leader Maple Lake, meanwhile, survived a tough game at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, coming home with a 44-39 win while improving to 6-0 in the league and 11-3 overall.

HL-W-W (5-12 overall) and B-B-E (6-10 overall) are both tied for fifth place in the CMC at 2-4 each.

Up next: the Jaguars host Holdingford in a CMC game next Tuesday.

On a completely different note (no pun intended), I don't believe I have ever botched the National Anthem in pep band like I did tonight on my trumpet. It was harsh! I tried the "second trumpet" line, and it was not good. I am used to the "first trumpet" line of the Anthem. I will be working on that. It's like anything: getting better won't happen without practice!

Video of the final minutes is forthcoming! Stay tuned.

**Here's a long video showing the final minutes of the game:

Stay tuned for the area scoreboard.

Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on Jan. 25:
Eden Valley-Watkins 80, Pierz 53
Maple Lake 44, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 39

Area boys' basketball scores on Jan. 25:
Albany 59, Mora 43
Dawson-Boyd 63, MACCRAY 59
New London-Spicer 59, Watertown-Mayer 53
Braham 74, Onamia 33
Cass Lake-Bena 80, Nevis 64 (CL-B is 17-1 overall with the win; the Tigers fall to 13-2 but are solidly in first place in Sub-Section 5A-North; both teams were undefeated in the Northland Conference before tonight)
Minneota 83, Yellow Medicine East 52
Canby 62, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 52
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 61, Browerville 55 OT
Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 64, Lakeview 56
Hinckley-Finlayson 68, Pine City 66 (H-F and Pine City entered this game tied for first place (8-0 each) in the Great River Conference; H-F is solidly in first place in the Sub-Section 5A-South standings and 15-2 overall)
Ortonville 63, Benson 59 (the Trojans improve to 13-2 overall; the Braves fall to 0-16)
Lac qui Parle Valley 55, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 52 (the visiting Fighting Saints came close to taking a bite out of the second-place team in their Camden North Conference; the Eagles improve to 7-4 in the Camden North, just two games out of first place behind Dawson-Boyd; K-M-S is 8-8 overall and 4-7 for fourth place in their conference)

##ConquerEveryDay