Step I: Jaguars pour it on against the Braves (VIDEOS)

After about one-third of the first half was played, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team settled in against a tough, physical defense being dished out by visiting Benson tonight in their playoff opener.

After leading just 6-4 with five minutes played, the Jaguars went on a 22-1 run and began running all over the Braves while building a 35-8 halftime lead.

**Here's the playing of the National Anthem, the starter introductions and the opening minutes of the game:


**Here's a video clip from the first half that begins with about 10 minutes left:


The Jaguars then scored the first nine points of the second half to lead 44-8 with 15:30 to go. Benson's shooting improved in the middle part of the second half, and with 11 minutes left, they trailed 52-22. Junior guard Juan Espinoza drained at least four second-half three-pointers to help the Braves fare better after the break.

With 4:35 left, Gavin Kampsen scored on the right block to give the Jaguars a 60-33 lead.

Final score: No. 1-seeded B-B-E 67, No. 8-seeded Benson 41. A total of 11 Jaguars scored in the game. We now have to go back to the 2016-2017 season for the last time B-B-E lost in the playoff opener.

Next for the Jaguars: the Sub-Section 6A-South semifinals will be this Saturday, March 12 at 1 p.m. at Minnewaska Area high school. The Jaguars (23-4) will face No. 4-seeded Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The Fighting Saints (17-9) prevailed in a close battle against Wheaton/Herman-Norcross in Kerkhoven by a 49-47 score. The Warriors (17-9) had a late three-pointer glance off the rim in the final seconds. K-M-S was ahead 28-24 at halftime. The Fighting Saints finished 10-6 in the rugged Camden North Conference in a second-place tie with Dawson-Boyd. More on their team will come in a new blog post on Friday.

Halftime scores in Sub-Section 6A-South...the Hancock Owls led 37-29 over Brandon-Evansville; the Ashby Arrows held a slim 23-19 lead over No. 7-seeded Parkers Prairie.

Video is uploading. I am having Internet connectivity issues so it's been a slow process tonight. It will be a little after 10 p.m. before the first video is ready to post.

Sub-Section 6A-South quarterfinal boys' basketball scores on March 10:
Ashby 49, Parkers Prairie 41_
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 49, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 47
Hancock 72, Brandon-Evansville 55

Area boys' basketball playoff scores on March 10:
Browerville 56, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 39
Nevis 82, Bertha-Hewitt 49
Osakis 73, Royalton 36
Verndale 58, Upsala 56
Battle Lake 60, Breckenridge 55
New York Mills 77, Park Christian 36
Swanville 75, Pine River-Backus 61 (Swanville is the No. 6 seed in their subsection, while PRB was the No. 3 seed)
Annandale 70, Maple Lake 21
Redwood Valley 60, Fairmont 56
Pierz 54, Eveleth-Gilbert 37
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 67, Litchfield 42
Central MN Christian 61, Lac qui Parle Valley 57

Quite a night

The Jaguars are off to the races here against Hancock.

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team beat Hancock 69-63 in a battle of the top two teams in Sub-Section 6A-South. The Jaguars led 33-32 in a topsy-turvy first half. That trend played out in the second half with the game hanging in the balance the whole way. After B-B-E took 45-38 lead with 12:35 left, the Owls blew the lid off the basket with a 13-0 run. With 8:30 left, Hancock's junior guard Tyler Reese made two double bonus free throws to put his team ahead 51-45. Over the next 100 seconds, the Jaguars tied the game at 51-51 on field goals by Austin Trustheim, Tanner Heinsius and Ryan Illies.

Hancock took their last lead on a three-point play Reese with 5:50 left, up 54-51. Trustheim's 10-footer put the Jaguars in the lead for good 58-56 with 4:10 to go.

The Jaguars are 11-6 overall; the Owls fall to 9-4.

At Holdingford the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 62-54 to improve to 5-2 in the Central Minnesota Conference. I really believe they have to run the table and finish 12-2 in the CMC to have a shot at winning the title. Holdingford is 7-9 overall and 3-4 in the CMC.

At Long Prairie the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team went 2-1 with wins over Border West (score of 48-27) and state-ranked West Central Area/Ashby/Evansville (score of 34-30). Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville, a Class 2A pairing, beat the Jaguars 39-26; tough and close losses by decisions at 138, 145 and 220 cost the Jaguars the win.. The Jaguars (9-6 overall) host Sauk Centre-Melrose on Tuesday night, January 26.

Central Minnesota Conference girls' basketball scores on Jan. 22:
Kimball Area 63, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 55 (the Cubs improve to 14-2 overall and 7-0 in the CMC; they are having their best girls' basketball season since 2002-2003, when they beat Hancock 47-41 in the Section 5A championship and advanced to the state tournament)
Eden Valley-Watkins 65, Paynesville Area 47
Maple Lake 60, Pierz 42

Area girls' basketball scores on January 22:
Underwood 56, Parkers Prairie 51
Hancock 54, Ortonville 47
Browerville/Eagle Valley 84, Menahga 50
Albany 59, Detroit Lakes 40

Area boys' basketball scores on January 22:
Battle Lake 66, Bertha-Hewitt 36
Verndale 60, Underwood 54
New London-Spicer 52, Watertown-Mayer 50 (a huge road win for the Wildcats, as they knock the Royals out of first place in the Wright County West)
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 46, Osakis 39
St. John's Prep 63, West Central Area 52
Swanville 56, Royalton 48 
BOLD 60, Minnewaska Area 54 (Lakers slip to fourth place in the West Central Conference)
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 67, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 65
Montevideo 72, Benson 68
Lakeview 61, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 30
Melrose Area 38, Sauk Centre 33 
MACCRAY 74, Yellow Medicine East 62
Canby 77, Lac qui Parle Valley 66
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 82, Dawson-Boyd 74 (2 OT!)

More from the sub-section championship game

Here's action from the second half while Battle Lake was pulling away...



...and here's the final buzzer and post-game celebrating by Battle Lake...

Area boys' basketball playoff scores on March 12:
Mayer Lutheran 47, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 45 (Sub-Section 5AA-South championship)
Ada-Borup 49, Ulen-Hitterdal 47 (U-H's final season; the Spartans merge with Norman County West for all sports in 2013-14)
Annandale 84, St. Cloud Cathedral 74
Upsala 68, Browerville 61 (Cardinals are 29-0 and face Barnum for the Section 5A championship)

*Now I can put my notes on the 2012-13 winter sports season to rest. It's over. That's all she wrote.

Great game playing out in sub-section title bout!

With 3:32 left in the first half, the game is tied 25-25! The Warriors came out truly on fire and led 8-0 with less than three minutes burned off the clock.

*Halftime: Battle Lake 34, W/H-N 30. Dan Marso is pacing the Battlers with 15 points at halftime, while Matthew Pederson's 10 points leads a balanced attack for the Warriors.

W/H-N got to within one point on a three by Truman Raguse with 15:32 left in the game, down 36-35. The Battlers then got 5 straight points on a 22-foot shot by Dan Marso and a steal and layup by Tyler Ukkelberg. With 13:18 left, W/H-N then called a timeout trailing 41-35.

VIDEO from the first half:


With just over 9 minutes left, Evan Van Erp (the senior transfer from Wadena/Deer Creek) cleaned up the glass on a missed three-pointer by Marso and put his team up 50-39. W/H-N called a prompt timeout.

Not much drama at the end here, as the Battlers have pulled away and have a 64-45 lead with 68 seconds left. They'll advance to the section title game.

*Final: Battle Lake 65, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 47.

Tonight's sub-section championship

I'll be in Morris tonight seeing how the Sub-Section 6A-South boys' basketball championship game turns out. Updates will be posted as I am able to do that.

Sub-section semis: Jaguars trail by 2 at halftime...and then a shocking loss

Against Wheaton/Herman-Norcross in the sub-section semifinal round in Morris, the Jaguars boys' basketball team is down 24-22 at halftime.

Video from the first half:


Head of steam built up in the second half fades... The Jaguars picked it up in the second half and built a lead as large as 7 points. With 8 minutes left, Trey Heinsius grabbed a steal and drove it in for a solo layup and B-B-E had a 46-39 lead.

Then it all went south...from the 8 minute mark until the 3-minute mark, the Jaguars did not make a single field goal. They managed three free throws in that span, but W/H-N drained three three-point shots along with two trips to the free throw line where they hit both...and suddenly the Warriors (17-8) are up 57-49 with 3 minutes to go.

James Kuefler hit a shot on the right block with 2:45 left, but the hole ended up too large to come out of with W/H-N up 57-51 at that point. Kuefler fouled out with 2:34 left, while the Warriors got two double bonus free throws. They scored later in the paint with 2:11 left to make it a 10-point game. W/H-N opened the door quite a bit for a comeback when they went 0-for-4 at the free throw line on two double-bonus opportunities with 1:26 and 1:12 left. They went 1-for-2 at the line with 61 seconds left, making it 62-51. At the other end of the court, everything the Jaguars put up glanced off of the rim.

With 57 seconds left, Brian Goodwin was fouled on a three-point shot and made all three free throws. It looked a little better at that point, down 62-54. With 48 seconds left we missed the front end of a bonus opportunity, but Trey Heinsius ripped down the rebound. We proceeded to miss two field goal shots, and the Warriors hit a free throw on the other end.

With 26 seconds left, Billy Borgerding drained a 10-foot floater to get it down to 7 points. W/H-N hit one of two double bonus free throws with 23 seconds left to make it an 8-point game. They again went 1/2 at the line on double bonus with 16 seconds left.

With 10 seconds left, Austin Imdieke nailed a three at the top of the key to make it a two-possession game. In high school ball, two possessions is doable in 10 seconds but next to impossible unless you are red hot at the three-point line.

With 8 seconds left, W/H-N again went 1/2 on double bonus for the game's final margin.

Final: W/H-N 66, B-B-E 59. The Warriors made 19 field goals in the game compared to 23 by the Jaguars. The difference was B-B-E going 11/19 at the free throw line compared to 24/33 by W/H-N. Inexplicably, the Warriors out-rebounded the Jaguars by a 32-27 margin.

No secret, stating the obvious...the Jaguars have to shoot better at the line, that's about all there is to say about it. That never really haunted them during the regular season, but it sure did tonight.

Battle Lake and Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley will tip off just shortly before 8:00pm. I hope everyone makes it home safely tonight. Tread lightly out there!!

Video is coming...I have to get some popcorn...maybe that will help with the pit in my stomach.

**Just released today: the Jaguars will compete in Section 5A next year...here's the other teams for the boys' basketball playoffs (similar or identical for the girls):
Ogilvie, Onamia, Parkers Prairie, Pine River-Backus, Royalton, Sebeka, Swanville, Upsala, Verndale, Browerville, East Central, Bertha-Hewitt, Eagle Valley, Hill City, Isle, Kimball Area, Menagha, Minisinaakawang Leadership Academy, Nevis and Northland.

Time to hit the road. In the second half, Battle Lake is up on C-G-B 62-28 with 10 minutes left in the game.

Jaguars by a lot at halftime...and then a 42-point win!

The Jaguars defense collapses on Underwood's Zane Lind as he drove to the hoop.

As halftime is about to wrap up at 19:46, the Jaguars boys' basketball team is gearing up for the second half while holding a 56-17 lead over visiting Underwood. In the second half, the Rockets did not score a point until 13:36 remained.

OTHER SCORES!

At halftime, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross has a 23-20 lead in Ashby.

With 14 minutes left at Battle Lake, West Central Area trails 30-24.

*FINAL: B-B-E 82, Underwood 35. The Jaguars improve to 25-1 overall and advance to the Sub-Section 6A-South semifinals; they face #5-seeded Wheaton/Herman-Norcross on Saturday at the University of Minnesota-Morris with a 6:00pm tip off. That game will be broadcast on 106.5 FM the Train.

Action from the first half...


Other boys' basketball playoff-opener finals:
New London-Spicer 67, Benson 57
Battle Lake 67, West Central Area 63 (WCA led 39-37 with 8:50 left but faded near the end)
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 73, Ashby 56 (Arrows fell apart in the last 3 minutes)
Melrose Area 67, Osakis 27

Boys' basketball seeding is complete!

The 2013 Sub-Section 6A-South boys' basketball seeding is:
1 - B-B-E 
2 - Henning
3 - Battle Lake
4 - the winner of Friday night's Wheaton/Herman-Norcross vs. Ashby game
5 - the loser of Friday night's Wheaton/Herman-Norcross vs. Ashby game
6 - West Central Area
7 - Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley
8 - Underwood
9 - Brandon/Evansville
10 - Parkers Prairie
11 - Hancock

Upon completion of the regular season, which still has a great deal riding on these last two games this week, the Jaguars boys' basketball team will prepare for a playoff opener against either Underwood or Brandon/Evansville. Those two teams meet in the play-in round of sub-section play on Monday, March 4 at Underwood.

The Jaguars host the playoff opener on Thursday, March 7 with a 7:00pm tip off. The sub-section semifinal will be in the early evening hours of Saturday, March 9 at Jim Gremmels Court on the campus of the University of Minnesota-Morris. The sub-section championship is Tuesday, March 12 at UMM. The Section 6A championship game is on Friday, March 15 at UMM.

Defending Sub-Section 6A-North champion Ada-Borup is the top seed in the north division of the section, followed by Ulen-Hitterdal at number two and Hillcrest Lutheran Academy at number three.

While playoffs are on the horizon, the two games coming up this week are huge! The Jaguars most certainly want to keep their winning streak alive in the Central Minnesota Conference. They host second-place Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted on Thursday and Kimball Area on Friday.

The day after the Pierz blow out: B-B-E takes over #1 in latest state rankings

*Breaking news: B-B-E's boys' basketball team has taken over #1 on this week's MN Basketball News state rankings in Class A. On a mostly unrelated note, Pierz has a new head coach this season, that being Matt Poepping. He is a 2006 Pierz Healy graduate and played boys' basketball for the Pioneers; they were ranked as high as #2 in Class AA during his senior season and eventually won a share of the CMC crown with Rockford (12-2 record). Currently he is also an assistant Pioneers football coach and works as a Kids Korner Paraprofessional at Little Falls (Lindbergh Elementary).

Here's the B-B-E Dazzlers performing at Yellow Medicine East this past Saturday afternoon...video taken by a Dance mom (thanks!)



The B-B-E Dazzlers dance team compete in the 2013 Camden Conference Championships this Saturday at the MACCRAY High School in Clara City. The Dazzlers high kick squad performs at 12:05pm, and they will go up against 7 other teams in the Camden Conference.

More news: tonight there will be no religion classes at St. Donatus, St. Francis de Sales, & Ss. Peter & Paul, Trinity Lutheran/West Lake Johanna Lutheran Church.

-23 for a low tonight!!!

Section 6A championship - Jaguars are taming the Cougars!

With 6:32 left during a W-DAY TV timeout, the Jaguars lead the Cougars 39-13! At one point they led 34-7 and completely owned Ada-Borup in every facet of the game.

At halftime: B-B-E 53, Ada-Borup 23. The Cougars have played pretty tough since they fell behind 34-7 with 8:29 left, when James Kuefler hit two bonus free throws to make it a 27-point game.

Prior to the game...


Also, last I heard, Sauk Centre's girls' basketball team was beating NR-H-E-G at the state tournament tonight.

In the second half, Kirby Montbriand's layup made it 64-25 with 11:45 left.

With 7:00 remaining, starters began hitting the bench for good, and the Jaguars hold a 72-32 lead! Running time is in effect.

This Jaguars sports boys' basketball playoff update is brought to you by the proud support of:

Scouting report on the Ada-Borup Cougars!

A view of part of the "White Out" at UM-Morris last year during the 2011 Section 6A championship game...
Right now the only team in the state that means a thing to the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team is the #9 state-ranked Ada-Borup Cougars.

Propelled by an early 13-point lead against Ulen-Hitterdal, the Cougars boys' basketball team needed less than 9 minutes to race out to the big early lead in the Sub-Section 6A-North championship on Tuesday in Moorhead. A 16-0 run launched the Cougars out to a quick 17-4 lead at the 9:50 mark of the first half.

In the second half, after the Spartans cut the deficit down to 38-34 with 12:50 remaining, Ada-Borup went on a huge 17-1 run to put the game out of reach.

The Cougars went on to win 64-42 to advance to the Section 6A finals for the first time since 2010. It also avenged two regular-season losses this year to the Spartans, a Pine to Prairie South Conference rival. The Spartans defeated the Cougars 48-40 in January and 62-53 in February. The third meeting was the one that really mattered, though, as it gives the Cougars a shot at advancing to the state tournament for the first time since 2009.

That year, Ada-Borup won Section 6A with a 72-60 win over Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley and then destroyed Cass Lake-Bena 82-44 in the Class A state quarterfinals. They met Ellsworth in the semis and lost 62-53 before edging Chisolm 60-58 in the third-place game to finish 27-5 overall.

From 2003 to 2008, the Cougars never got deeper than two games into the playoffs, so the 2008-2009 season was pretty remarkable for their school. Hillcrest Lutheran Academy knocked out Ada-Borup 62-56 in the 2010 Section 6A finals, and last season they fell to Norman County East 44-37 in the sub-section finals.

The final 2011-12 conference standings in the P2P-South showed U-H at the top with an unblemished 10-0 record. Ada-Borup took second alone at 8-2. Norman County East and Norman County West both finished tied for third at 4-6 each. Waubun (3-7) and Lake Park-Audubon (1-9) rounded out the six-team conference standings.

Offensively, Ada-Borup puts up 69.4 points a game while giving up only 53.4.

Here's a glimpse of an article from the last game that Ada-Borup lost...a 69-66 outcome to conference foe Barnesville on March 2:

'Ada-Borup limits own success with turnovers'
Ada-Borup committed the majority of its 18 turnovers in the final minutes of Friday's game against Barnesville in Ada, resulting in a 69-66 loss.

Ada-Borup held a 61-60 lead with 2 minutes and 44 seconds to play, until a series of turnovers led to 7 unanswered Barnesville (15-10) points.

"We have to stop committing the absent-minded turnovers if we are going to win the playoff games coming up," Ada-Borup coach Trevor Stewart said. "Every team will have some turnovers, but we'd rather ours be from aggressive play compared to absent-minded."

Ada-Borup (19-5) would close the gap to just one point, 67-66 with 15.5 seconds left, but another turnover led to a bonus free throw situation where Barnesville made both.

...and
'Ada-Borup drops a game to AA Hawley'
Hawley dished Ada-Borup its fourth loss of the basketball season Monday with a 72-59 win in Hawley on Feb. 20

Ada-Borup's (18-4) smallest deficit was just two points after a 10-2 run to open the second half. But with 8 minutes and 45 seconds to play, Hawley (13-8) switched its defensive scheme and benefited offensively from the Cougar's turnovers and height disadvantage.

Hawley grabbed 35 rebounds to Ada-Borup's 24, granting second chances that eliminated the Cougar's chances of a comeback.

"Our flaws showed themselves well tonight," Ada-Borup coach Trevor Stewart said. "We had a chance to take the lead opening the second half, but they adjusted well and we couldn't answer... that in itself is something we must work on to have a strong postseason."

Ada-Borup has just two games left before playoffs, both are in Ada against Climax/Fisher and Barnesville.

My two cents: the Jaguars are gonna need a fast start and strong defensive play through all 36 minutes of the game if they want to advance to 'state' again.

...and don't forget that the game is a "White Out" for B-B-E fans!

2nd photo album available from the Battle Lake game

This one has 340 photos...all taken after tip-off. Altogether I have 447 pictures from last night's action at the University of Minnesota-Morris.
Click below to view:
http://saukherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1432937&CategoryID=69413&ListSubAlbums=0

After a furious rally by Battle Lake, the Jaguars win their 2nd straight sub-section title

Final score: B-B-E 64, Battle Lake 60. The Battlers trailed 61-55 with 68 seconds left before making it a one-point game, down 61-60, with 48 seconds left. There was no upset tonight, though, and no late comeback by the Battlers...unlike 7 years ago when Battle Lake overcame a 9-point 4th-quarter deficit to spell the Jaguars 58-56 in the 2005 Section 5A championship game.

The Jaguars now gear up for the Section 6A championship, which will be held at 7:00pm on Friday night at Concordia-Moorhead. Their opponent will be Ada-Borup, who last made it to state in 2009 and defeated Ulen-Hitterdal 64-42 tonight to win the Sub-Section 6A-North crown.

Much, much more on Ada-Borup will be posted over the next couple of days. The Cougars were the #1-seed in Sub-Section 6A-North; they hold a 22-5 overall record and were ranked #25 in the most recent QRF rankings on minnesota-scores.net.

**Breaking news...it was just announced by B-B-E fans that Friday night's section championship game will be a "White Out" for Jaguar fans. Get ready!

Here's some scenes from the second half tonight...with 3:28 left and both teams in a timeout. B-B-E 57, Battle Lake 49.

Prior to that video, the Battlers had gone on a 9-0 run to whittle down a 17-point deficit. B-B-E owned a 57-40 lead with 8 minutes remaining.

*Posted just before midnight...click on the following link to read a game story from tonight at the Sauk Centre Herald website: http://saukherald.com/main.asp?ArticleID=13897&SectionID=8&SubSectionID=402

**Wow, B-B-E fans and followers just blew the top off my one-day record for visitors to this B-B-E Jaguar website in 2012. Since Jan. 1, 2012, the most individual visitors here in one day was 414 up until March 13, 2012. Now that midnight has passed, I see a total of 508 unique visitors were at this website. Wow!

Check back on Wednesday morning after 11am to read more on tonight's game and learn about further extended coverage of the Jaguars and their playoff run.

**Video added Wednesday at 07:43...this will be available for just a few hours today...


Area boys' basketball playoff results in sub-section finals involving central Minnesota teams on Mar. 13:
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 50, Pierz 39
Browerville 62, Upsala 51
Perham 57, Pelican Rapids 54 (Wow! What a game)
St. Cloud Cathedral 52, Annandale 50
Barnum 69, Royalton 53
Litchfield 60, Benson 40 (the Braves hung around after falling back 28-8 with 5 minutes left in the first half!)
Watertown-Mayer 51, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 43

This Jaguar sports boys' basketball playoff update is brought to you by the proud support of:

Halftime at UMM: B-B-E suffers a late flat tire but still leads 39-22

Though their level of play got sloppy in the final three minutes of the first half, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team holds a 39-22 lead over Battle Lake tonight at the break.

Prior to tip-off tonight at UM-Morris...


The first three minutes of the game were tense, as Billy Borgerding's first shot (the first shot by B-B-E) was tipped off the mark. Finally at the 16:45 mark, Brian Goodwin drained a three-pointer on the right wing to make it 3-0. Battle Lake responded with a three by Van Erp to tie it 3-3 at 16:10.

...and some action later in the first half tonight...

More action from last night at UMM

**Video taken down on Monday, March 19.

The tip-off for the Sub-Section 6A-South championship game on Tuesday night is at 8:00pm at the University of Minnesota-Morris against two-time Little Eight Conference champion Battle Lake.

Halftime at UMM: B-B-E is crushing Henning while landing a spot in their 4th straight sub-section final!

Well over a thousand B-B-E fans at UMM tonight!

Once the scoreboard read 18-11 with 11 minutes left in the first half, the Jaguars boys' basketball team rolled out a 15-0 run to blow the game wide open against 4th-seeded Henning. After posting that 33-11 lead with 5 minutes on the clock, the Jaguars are up 39-14 at halftime.

The game is being aired on the Train 106.5 FM and Smooth Magic 107 at 107.1 FM.

From the first half tonight at UMM...over a thousand B-B-E fans are present!


At halftime at St. John's, the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters trail #1-seeded Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 33-19.

**Update at around 7:00pm...the Jaguars have opened up an insurmountable 58-22 lead over the Hornets! Quite an effort! The Hornets poked the Jaguars with a three-pointer only 15 seconds into the second half, but it was B-B-E who did the prodding the rest of the way. Connor Goodwin got things going after halftime with a shot at the 15:40 mark to make it 41-19. Henning's Zach Torgerson hit point blank on the right side to make it 41-21. B-B-E then put up 13 unanswered points with four different Jaguars scoring in the rally. With 10:30 on the clock, the lead grew to 54-21.

The Jaguars were never threatened throughout the 36 minutes of the game.

Final score: B-B-E 60, Henning 30. Running time went into effect with over 7 minutes left in the game, when the Jaguars went up 60-25.

More action from late in the 2nd half...


The final set of B-B-E reserves take the floor in the waning minutes of tonight's game...

Sauk Centre lost to Long Prairie-Grey Eagle in one of four sub-section semifinal games of Section 6AA today.

In the second game at UMM, Battle Lake just opened up a 17-11 lead over Ashby. The time reads 8:48 on the clock, and the game was just tied 11-11 a minute earlier.

Battle Lake went up 19-11 before the Arrows went on a 5-0 run. With 4:30 left in the first half, the Battlers have a 21-18 lead.

It's a fast-paced game. With 3 minutes left in the first half, Battle Lake has 4 team personal fouls, with the Arrows having three.

A three by Battle Lake made it 24-18 with 2:52 left. Then #23 scored for Ashby to make it 24-20 with 2:44 on the clock.

Final score: Battle Lake 66, Ashby 55. The Arrows got the deficit down to 7 points with only 48 seconds left, but they couldn't pull out the win. They led only briefly during the middle of the first half. Battle Lake held a 48-37 lead, their largest of the night by that point, with a little over 4 minutes left in the game. In the final 48 seconds, Battle Lake went 4-of-4 at the line to ice the win. Three of Ashby's four losses this year came at the hands of Battle Lake; the other was to B-B-E.

Here's the link to the photo gallery from the playoff opener for the Jaguars against Brandon/Evansville: http://saukherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1429720&CategoryID=69413&ListSubAlbums=1
...and don't miss this web article at the Sauk Centre Herald website just posted late Saturday night that recaps the Henning win: http://saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=8&SubSectionID=402&ArticleID=13896

The B-B-E Jaguars advance to their fourth straight sub-section championship game. They made it to the Sub-Section 6AA-East finals in 2009 before losing to New London-Spicer 85-60. In 2010, they fell to Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 54-50 in the Sub-Section 6A-South final. Last year, they shredded Battle Lake 61-33.

More will follow in next week's Sauk Centre Herald and a special Herald publication that will be released on Tuesday.

Sub-Section 6A-North semifinal boys' BB results on Mar. 10 at Concordia:
Ada-Borup 49, Norman County East 39
Ulen-Hitterdal 59, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 48

This Jaguar sports boys' basketball playoff update is brought to you by the proud support of:

**Slight time changes for future playoff games in the next few days

A note from Activities Director Rick Gossen:
Here is what I found out about the times for the section tourney.
March 10...the correct times are 6:00pm and 7:30pm. It has been changed on the MSHSL website.
March 13...we are playing at 8:00pm as a courtesy to the township caucuses.
March 16...7:00pm time is a contract with TV stations and other advertising.

For the case of B-B-E fans, the Jaguars boys' basketball team will tip off at 6pm on Saturday (tomorrow) night at UM-Morris against #4-seeded Henning. It is the Sub-Section 6A-South semifinal.

And a clip from the latter part of last night's game...note Austin Imdieke's nice rebound bucket on the baseline...

B-B-E gets B/E for the boys' basketball playoff opener

Brandon/Evansville won a play-in round game tonight at Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley by a 65-55 score. The host Wolverines were seeded #8, while the Chargers were #9. B/E improves to 10-14 overall as they gear up for a trip to top-seeded B-B-E this Thursday night for a 7:00 tip off in the Sub-Section 6A-South quarterfinals.

A very tight first half played out in Graceville, with a 23-23 tie showing at the 4-minute mark. C-G-B went up 28-25 and 31-27 in the closing minutes. I didn't hear the halftime score, except that B/E had 33 points.

The Chargers came out on fire in the second half and staked a 52-42 lead with around 7 minutes left. The Wolverines made a run to close the gap to 52-50 and 54-52, but that was as close as they got.

For the game, B/E shot 22-for-30 at the free throw line and 19-for-36 from the field. They committed 20 turnovers compared to 18 for C-G-B. The Wolverines (8-15), who lost out with a 7-game losing streak to end their season, were 23-for-64 from the field and 6-of-10 at the line.

Brandon/Evansville hosted the Jaguars on Feb. 4 in a Saturday afternoon game and lost 75-37. They went 4-8 in the Little Eight Conference this year, good for a two-way tie with Underwood for fourth place.

I'll end with a big 'thank you' to Paul McDonald of KKOK/KMRS radio in Morris for his outstanding game report of tonight's contest.

Stay tuned for more information on the rest of the playoff road for B-B-E.

Other Sub-Section 6A-South boys' basketball play-in round results on March 5:
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 64, Parkers Prairie 61
Hancock 68, Underwood 45

This scouting report is brought to you by the proud support of the B-B-E Jaguars from:

Battle Lake's boys' basketball team suffers a 29-point loss

I give them credit for getting Pelican Rapids on the schedule right before playoffs begin.

Still, a 29-point loss is an ugly way to end the regular season for any team. Battle Lake was 23-0 heading into last night's game at Pelican Rapids, who was rated #4 on the Class AA QRF rankings and also in the latest Class AA coaches' rankings.

The game wasn't even close, as the Vikings (23-3, 11-1 Heart O' Lakes Conference) scored the first 17 points of the game and were never threatened. While Battle Lake is known for their defensive prowess this year and quick, talented fleet of guards, they could only push the Vikings into a total of six turnovers in the contest.

It was senior night for Pelican Rapids, and their five seniors started the game. It was their 16th win in a row.

For Battle Lake: Alex Ukkelberg led the Battlers with 18 points and 5 http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifassists, and Tyler Ukkelberg turned in a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Dan Marso chipped in with 12 points and Petric VanErp collected 8 rebounds.

What's tough for Battle Lake is that they have gone through the season without one of their best players, Marty Charest, who suffered a broken leg last fall. Losing a kid like that has to make a difference, although I am unsure if he would've helped Battle Lake stay with a team of Pelican Rapids' caliber.

Here's a link to an article in the Fergus Falls Journal written last week about Battle Lake. It somewhat inflates their team, but I guess that's okay since they're not the team I want to see advancing past the third round of playoffs!
http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/2012/02/29/battlers-on-a-roll

Jaguars get top seed in Sub-Section 6A-South

2012 Sub-Section 6A-South boys' basketball seedings:
1- B-B-E
2- Battle Lake
3- Ashby
4- Henning
5- West Central Area
6- Hancock
7- Wheaton/Herman-Norcross
8- Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley
9- Brandon/Evansville
10- Parkers Prairie
11- Underwood

Round one of the playoffs for the Jaguars boys' basketball team begins on Thursday, March 8 with a home game beginning at 7:00. Their opponent will be the winner of the 8-vs-9 game of C-G-B and Brandon/Evansville, which takes place in Graceville on Monday, March 5. The semifinal round of sub-sections is at 6:00 and 7:30 on Saturday night, March 10 at James Gremmels Court on the campus of the University of Minnesota-Morris. The Jaguars' bracket goes in the first game that night.

The Sub-Section 6A-South championship is at 8:00 on Tuesday, March 13 at UMM.

It's premature to talk about the section championship, which is March 16. The Jaguars haven't gotten there yet.

Sub-Section 6A-North:
1- Ada-Borup
2- Ulen-Hitterdal
3- Hillcrest Lutheran Academy
4- Norman County East
5- Norman County West
6- Waubun
7- Park Christian
8- Lake Park-Audubon
9- New York Mills
10- Rothsay