One win in hand, another yet to come!...and it was a 2-0 night! (VIDEOS!)

This blog post is being updated on Friday afternoon while I'm in Brooklyn Park; including the area scoreboard for Thursday night, one additional video plus a link to my editor's blog.

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team played perhaps their best game of the season and defeated Eden Valley-Watkins tonight by a 67-62 score. The halftime lead for the home squad was 27-20. Junior Taylor Pieper led the team with 19 points. The Jaguars shot 50 percent at the free throw line (16-32) and 37 percent from the floor (23-61).

The Jaguars got out to a rough start and trailed 8-2 with 14:50 left after the Eagles scored on three straight driving layups. With 14:34 to go, Lance Radermacher connected from the right corner with a three-pointer, and the Jaguars were off to a 9-0 scoring run. Luke Illies's 10-footer with 12:30 left put the Jaguars ahead 11-8. One minute later, Taylor Pieper drove inside right of the lane to make it a 13-8 lead.

Austin Berge's three-pointer put the Jaguars ahead 16-11. With 7 minutes left, the Eagles scored on the baseline to narrow the gap to 18-16. They went over 6 minutes from that point without a field goal, while the Jaguars expanded their lead to 27-17. EV-W sophomore Caleb DeRose scored on a right corner three with 28 seconds left that made it 27-20 at halftime. Across the last 10 minutes of the first half, EV-W scored two field goals and one free throw.

As it played out, both teams shot 30 percent on field goals in the first half.

The Eagles stayed within striking distance thanks to hot three-point shooting in the second half. The first three-pointer was made with 13:45 left, and the next one just 25 seconds later. B-B-E expanded the 34-28 lead when Luke Illies hit a three with 13:10 to go. DeRose's second three-pointer of the second half was made with 10:20 to go, and this narrowed B-B-E's lead to 41-36. That was the closest they could get until the game's final minute. With 20 seconds to go, the Eagles scored on a layup that cut B-B-E's lead to 64-60. Josh Walstrom then cashed 2 double bonus free throws with 17.7 seconds left, and the Jaguars hung on for the badly-needed win.

*Here's the game's tip-off and the early minutes of the first half:


EV-W fell to 5-13 overall with their 7th straight loss.

At Holdingford, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team held a lead at halftime. I don't have more information than that.

Here's action from the second half of tonight's boys' basketball game:


Update...
In a marvelous performance, the girls' basketball team avenged a loss to Holdingford in December and won tonight by a 59-52 score. This marks their first win against the Huskers since December 7, 2021. B-B-E led 26-21 at halftime. Scoring for the Jaguars: Kacey Fischer 14, Bree Thieschafer 13, Adley Hagen 10, Macey Roering 9, Teagan Dingmann 9, Mya Worms 4.

The Jaguars improved to 13-7 overal and 7-2 in the CMC. Next is a non-conference game this Saturday in Belgrade against Browerville. Tip-off for the boys' varsity team is at 2 p.m., and the girls' varsity team should follow with tip-off at about 3:30 p.m.

That's all I've got for tonight. I have a big day tomorrow with a drive to Brooklyn Park for the Minnesota Newspaper Association annual convention. Good night!

Here's the blog link to my editor's blog, where I'm adding a few updates from Brooklyn Park at the MNA Convention: https://lifeinbonanzavalley.blogspot.com.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 30:
Royalton 50, Kimball Area 24
Paynesville Area 70, Maple Lake 44
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 54, Eden Valley-Watkins 37

Area boys' basketball scores on January 3:
Holdingford 85, Foley 42
Montevideo 91, Minnewaska Area 49
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 87, Canby 70
Watertown-Mayer 68, New London-Spicer 64
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 56, Melrose Area 37
Swanville 100, Ogilvie 49
Upsala 64, Browerville 60
Sauk Centre 59, West Central Area 42
Minneota 84, MACCRAY 71
BOLD 75, Cedar Mountain 74
Lac qui Parle Valley 83, Yellow Medicine East 71

Area girls' basketball scores on January 30:
Upsala 71, Browerville 33
Pipestone Area 51, Minneota 44
BOLD 68, Cedar Mountain 56
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 73, Nevis 26
East Central 52, Hinckley-Finlayson 39
Osakis 61, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 29
Ogilvie 54, Swanville 51
Alexandria 76, Willmar 45
Underwood 66, Parkers Prairie 50
Brandon-Evansville 67, Battle Lake 42
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 93, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 88
Rothsay 61, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 49