The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team is hosting Brandon-Evansville tonight. The Chargers are a tough sub-section team who is looking to make noise in the upcoming playoffs. First things first! The teams square off tonight in Brooten, and the Jaguars are looking to keep their momentum going and lock up the No. 2 seed in Sub-Section 6A-South.
The Chargers have lost two in a row coming into tonight's game, and they are currently 12-11 overall and ranked No. 3 in the subsection. The Jaguars, meanwhile, have won 4 of their last 5 games to hold a 14-8 record. They sit in second place in the subsection rankings behind powerhouse West Central Area (20-3). The Knights are rated No. 2 overall in Class 1A by the QRF.
Prior to the varsity pregame drills, Coach Chris Anderson awarded a Distinguished Service Award from the Central Minnesota Conference to Paul and Jane Weller for their many years of dedication to the B-B-E Jaguars athletic program. They are 1983 graduates of Belgrade high school whose sons were all B-B-E graduates.
And! Bonus! Tonight members of the 4th and 5th grade classes at B-B-E elementary will sing the National Anthem!
Halftime: B-B-E 38, Brandon-Evansville 31. The Chargers got a three-pointer just before the buzzer by senior Carter White. B-B-E had a 35-23 lead with 3:38 to go on a rebound shot by Hayden Sobiech.
Later in the evening...I'm watching Ashton Dingmann's Gustavus Adolphus basketball team (via the web) playing in the MIAC playoff semifinals. It's going into double overtime! Gustavus is tied with Carleton in a 103-103 score. You can watch it here: https://www.miacsportsnetwork.com/gustavus. The overtime periods last 5 minutes.
Second overtime updates...
A rebound shot inside the left block by Dingmann gave Gustavus a 107-104 lead. Later, with 2:53 left, a wide-open layup by Brady Kienitz gave Gustavus a 109-104 lead. With 2:43 left, the Knights got two free throws to make it 109-106. Later, with around 2 minutes left, Gustavus got a three-point play to expand the lead to 112-106. With just 63 seconds left, Dingmann canned a three-pointer on the left wing for a 115-107 lead.
Final score: Gustavus Adolphus 124, Carleton 116. This was the highest-scoring MIAC men's basketball playoff game in the history of the conference. It was the second-highest scoring game ever for a Gustavus men's team.
Next for Gustavus Adolphus: the No. 2-seeded Gusties (17-10) host No. 4-seeded Hamline University two nights from now on Saturday, February 24 in St. Peter at 7 p.m. in the MIAC playoff championship. The winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA D-III national tournament. The loser will likely see their season conclude. The Hamline University Pipers (also 17-10 overall) stunned top-seeded and heavy favorite St. John's University at Sexton Arena in Collegeville with an 83-80 semifinal win tonight. The Johnnies, 20-6 overall, will likely earn an at-large bid to the NCAAs when that's announced next week.
Dingmann is a 2022 B-B-E graduate and a sophomore for the Gustavus Adolphus men's basketball team. Brady Kienitz, a 2021 MACCRAY graduate, is a junior for the Gusties and a younger brother of B-B-E head tennis coach Katie Hanna. Kienitz poured in a career-high 30 points tonight. Crazy!!! He drained five three-pointers and shot 50 percent from the floor while playing 49 out of 50 possible minutes in the game. Wow. Just wow!!!
