Step II: wow!!!!

In the second half of tonight's sub-section semifinal game, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has opened up a commanding 40-23 lead on a Luke Dingmann free throw.

Earlier in the second half, the Jaguars got a spark from Kaden Pieper's second three-pointer of the game with 16:25 left. That bucket made it 25-15. Another three from Pieper with 10:30 left made it 39-21.

With seven minutes left in the game, PR-B got to the free throw line for the first time of the night. Wow! They lost both of those attempts.

Jackson Peter's layup made it 46-28 to give B-B-E an 18-point lead for the second time of the game.

Final score: B-B-E 54, Pine River-Backus 36.

The Jaguars (14-14 overall) advance to the sub-section finals for the third straight season!!!!!!!! This is really, really tremendous. This will be B-B-E's 16th sub-section finals appearance!!! The first was in 1992, and now Coach Anderson's teams have landed a spot in the sub-section finals in five of his six seasons as head coach at B-B-E.

PR-B finishes 18-9 overall.

STAT OF THE GAME: four points...yes, that's the stat of the game. What does four points represent? That represents the result of sophomore Will VanBeck's incredible defense played against PR-B's star senior guard, Brady Raph, who came in the game averaging over 20 points a contest. Raph is the all-time leading scorer for PR-B. Yes, VanBeck limited him to just four points! One field goal in each half. Raph was frustrated the entire night and committed two offensive charging personal fouls against VanBeck.

Earlier in the season, Raph scored 30 points against Menahga. Here's a story from the Brainerd Dispatch about Brady Raph… (short link) https://bit.ly/38zDK7i.

In the final regular season game at PR-B, the Tigers defeated Sebeka 76-63. In that game, Raph scored 19 points and became PR-B's all-time leading boys' basketball scorer.

I don't think going 1-1 was the expectation of PR-B as they entered playoffs.

Next for the Jaguars: the Sub-Section 5A-West championship game on Wednesday, March 11 at 7 p.m. at Wadena-Deer Creek high school. The opponent will be No. 1-seeded Nevis. Nevis (23-4) beat Walker-Hackensack-Akeley by a 70-44 score in the earlier semifinal game tonight at Wadena. W-H-A finishes 16-12 overall.

The Nevis Tigers went 11-3 to earn a co-championship with Cass Lake-Bena in the Northland Conference. This will be Nevis's fourth straight appearance in a sub-section championship game. The last two years, Nevis saw their season end at the hands of Cromwell-Wright in the Sub-Section 5A-North title game. In 2017, Nevis won the sub-section and Section 5A title before going 0-2 at state.

Nevis also advanced to state in 2015. They went 1-1 in subsections in 2016. Browerville beat Nevis out in the sub-section finals in 2014 before Browerville lost to B-B-E in the Section 5A finals. (Remember that!?!?!)

And this! Get a load of this!Top-seeded and Section 5A favorite Cromwell-Wright lost in the Sub-Section 5A-East semifinals tonight. Their season ended at the hands of No. 4-seeded Hinckley-Finlayson by a 65-51 score. H-F is 13-14 overall, while Cromwell-Wright finishes 20-5 overall.

And finally getting back to more video taken last night in Little Falls...we've made tracks with the Bonanza Valley Voice to that game and then to Duluth to join the B-B-E robotics team. What a weekend it has been!

*Here's a video of the pre-game National Anthem performance, starter introductions, tip-off and the first half's first few minutes:


Thanks to everyone for following B-B-E's teams through the playoffs and through the March Madness! We'll do what we can at the Bonanza Valley Voice to provide online and printed coverage.

NOTE: this "state brackets" blog post has been updated with additional important information...plus a video clip was added tonight. Click here (short link) to view that: https://bit.ly/2v6TLEg.

THANK YOU to Bohmer Insurance Agency for sponsoring this Jaguars Sports playoff update!