The New London-Spicer Wildcats provide the home opponent for the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team in tonight's border battle. The visitors are 1-2 overall and are scoring at a high clip this early in the season at 66.7 points per game, but they have given up 63.3 points a game. Meanwhile, the Jaguars (1-1) have averaged 56.5 points in two games with a defensive average of 53.5 points per game.
The Wildcats are in a similar rebuilding spot as the Jaguars, after they return just 2 of their top 9 players. NL-S graduated 7 seniors from their Sub-Section 3AA-North runner-up team that finished 16-13 overall and 8-6 in the Wright County West Conference. One of their losses was on January 14 at Fort Knox by a 72-61 score. No doubt they will have that in mind in tonight's game, which will be aired on 106.5 FM The Train of Norway Lake-Sunburg.
NL-S returns seniors Grant Paffrath and Mason Delzer, who are two returning starters.
More to come. No word yet out of Holdingford, where the wrestlers are competing in a triangular.
UPDATE: at halftime, the Jaguars trail 26-24 against the Wildcats.
*Here's action from late in the first half against NL-S tonight:
Then in the second half, NL-S has a 30-26 lead with 2 minutes gone. Later, the Jaguars led 51-50 on a slam dunk by Luke Dingmann with 6:02 to go and then 53-50 on a paint shot by Jordan Herickhoff. NL-S surged in the game's final 3 minutes, though, while holding the Jaguars scoreless in the final 3 1/2 minutes.
Final: NL-S 64, B-B-E 57. The Jaguars (1-2) travel to Paynesville Area this Friday in their Central Minnesota Conference opener. The Bulldogs defeated visiting Osakis tonight 55-48 in a non-conference game to hand the Silverstreaks their first loss of the year after a 3-0 start.
UPDATE at Upsala...at halftime, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is ahead 27-19.
Final: B-B-E 60, Upsala 51. Next for the girls' basketball team (4-1 overall) is a home game on Thursday this week against Kimball Area.
Area girls' basketball scores on December 12:
#7 New London-Spicer 56, #15 Minnewaska Area 51
West Central Area 58, Montevideo 52
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 54, Litchfield 21
MACCRAY 78, Ortonville 34
Dawson-Boyd 55, Lac qui Parle Valley 47
Yellow Medicine East 73, Renville County West 67
Melrose Area 48, Benson 42
Area boys' basketball scores on December 12:
Browerville 61, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 43
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 80, Royalton 58
Paynesville Area 55, Osakis 48
Eden Valley-Watkins 59, Albany 53
Ashby 65, Underwood 61
Rothsay 68, Battle Lake 37
Brandon-Evansville 82, Parkers Prairie 78
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 85, Litchfield 50
West Central Area 62, Sauk Centre 60
Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on December 12:
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 73, Kimball Area 67
Holdingford 78, Maple Lake 42
