CMC series sweep (VIDEOS *Updated)

In a game that went down to the wire, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team completed a Central Minnesota Conference series sweep tonight. After trailing visiting Royalton 43-33 with 9:24 remaining, a Herculean effort down the stretch propelled them to a 51-49 win.

The Jaguars improve to 9-15 overall and 6-7 in the CMC, which is good for a tie for fourth place with Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. Next: a home game next Tuesday against Paynesville Area.

Here's a video featuring the final 3 seconds of the game...


The Royals fall to 7-17 overall and 3-10 in the CMC.

How the first half played out...
A little over 3 minutes into the game, the Jaguars had an 8-4 lead. Royalton junior Jason Albright knocked down a three-pointer with 14 minutes left, and the Royals then took a 9-8 lead on a layup 1 minute later. The Royals slowly stretched the lead to 6 points across the next 6 minutes of the game. Trailing 17-11, the Jaguars scored 7 straight points, and a three-pointer by Josh Walstrom with 4:20 left put them ahead 20-17.

The Royals tied the game at 20-20 and then 24-24 before Taylor Pieper's three-point play put the Jaguars up 27-24 with 1:10 left. In the game's last 45 seconds, Royalton scored unanswered buckets to take a 28-27 lead into halftime. Leading the Jaguars in the first half were Lance Radermacher (9 points) and Josh Walstrom (6 points).

Here's action from later in the first half tonight:


The video begins with about 3:40 left in the first half. Lance Radermacher had just scored to give the Jaguars a 20-18 lead.

Second half notes from tonight's game...
Dominic Ramos scored in the lane for the first bucket of the second half, but B-B-E's one-point lead was short-lived. The Royals went on an 8-2 run capped by Braedon Hansen's three-pointer that put them up 36-31 with 12:53 to go. Luke Illies scored a bucket, but the Jaguars went over 3 minutes without scoring while Royalton expanded their lead to 43-33 on two free throws with 9:24 left.

Illies drained a three with 5:45 left, and Josh Walstrom went 2-for-2 at the line with 3:46 left. Walstrom then scored in the paint, and Illies canned another three-pointer that put the Jaguars on top 48-47 with 2:34 to go.

After falling behind 49-48 in the closing minute, Illies scored for the game's final lead change. Walstrom made one free throw with 3 seconds left for the game's final margin. Illies led the team with 18 points. They shot 36 percent on field goals, with Illies draining 4 of the team's 6 threes in the game. At the line, the Jaguars shot 9-for-16.

Friday afternoon update...
Additional B-B-E speech team coverage has been posted to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website. You can find that by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/8vcVt.

For the upcoming Brooten city council meeting, you can view the agenda by clicking over to my editor's blog: https://lifeinbonanzavalley.blogspot.com.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on February 20:
Holdingford 90, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 67
Eden Valley-Watkins 76, Kimball Area 64
Paynesville Area 95, Maple Lake 53

Area boys' basketball scores on February 20:
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 74, New London-Spicer 60
Rothsay 66, Tri-State 47
Battle Lake 70, Parkers Prairie 59
Willmar 81, St. Cloud Tech 74
Browerville 87, Sebeka 50
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 63, Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal 29
Brandon-Evansville 80, Lake Park-Audubon 62
Dawson-Boyd 80, Montevideo 66
Luverne 91, Minneota 60