Pre-game coverage will start at approximately 12:45 p.m.
The opponent for our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team will be neighboring rival Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The Fighting Saints are led by senior sensation Alex Call, who is one of the best boys three-sport athletes to play for KMS in the last 20 years. He was the lone senior starter on their football team last fall. He sustained an injury mid-season and was also unavailable to play in December for basketball.
Since his return in January, they have become one of the top teams in Section 6A. B-B-E's season-opening 56-43 win over them is very insignificant at this point.
K-M-S will have two quarterbacks starting today: Alex Call and sophomore Jared Cortez. When Call was out last fall, Cortez assumed the starting quarterback position and performed very, very well. They managed one playoff win over Benson with Cortez leading the offense.
**Here's a video recorded after the playoff opener:
GAME UPDATES to follow...
K-M-S proved right from the opening tip to be a worthy contender for the championship berth that was on the line today. With 16:47 left, Gage Thorson put them ahead 2-0 with two free throws. Kaden Pieper answered with a shot in the paint to tie it, but Alex Call responded with a shot in the paint on the other end to give K-M-S a 4-2 lead. With 15 minutes left in the half, Jared Cortez drained two free throws to give K-M-S an 8-2 lead. A minute after that, K-M-S scored on a coast-to-coast layup that shredded B-B-E's defense and give them a 10-5 lead. The battle was on.
With under 3 minutes to go before halftime, the Fighting Saints have a 27 to 25 lead.
**Here's a video clip that starts with 2:03 on the clock in the first half today and the game tied 27-27:
HALFTIME: K-M-S holds a 35-29 lead over the top-seeded Jaguars.
Final score in a new blog post.
THANK YOU to Bonanza Valley State Bank of Brooten and Coop's Corner of Belgrade for sponsoring this playoff sports post!
