FERTILE-BELTRAMI BOY’S BASKETBALL LOSES HEART BREAKER TO ADA-BORUP/WEST

The Fertile-Beltrami Falcons were unable to close out an impressive effort against top-seeded and #3 ranked Ada-Borup/West in a 53-45 loss in the West Sub-Section 8A championship game played at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls.

FIRST HALF –
Ada-Borup/West started the scoring with two offensive rebounds and a basket from 6’7 senior Mason Miller for a 2-0 lead.  Fertile-Beltrami answered on the next possession with a Cort Christianson three-pointer and a 3-2 lead 40 seconds into the game.  ABW answered with six straight points for an 8-3 lead and it looked like momentum might be on the Cougars side.  “I thought we were still in good shape,” said Fertile-Beltrami Coach Neil Steffes.  Fertile-Beltrami’s Christianson stopped the run with another three-pointer with 9:51 left and 18 seconds later Soren Larson hit a pull up jump shot to tie the game at 8-8.  Ada-Borup/West stopped the Falcon run with a Verdis Barber basket, but 11 seconds later Fertile-Beltrami started a 10-0 run with two free throws from Christianson, a steal and layup from Rylin Petry, four points from Christianson and a layup for Grant Wilson for an 18-10 lead with 2:53 left in the half.  Ada-Borup/West stopped the run with four straight points and the half ended with a Falcon free throw from Wilson and Fertile-Beltrami took a 19-14 lead into halftime with 12 of the 19 points scored by Cort Christianson.  “I was happy with our first half and thought we did a great job of executing our game plan,” said Coach Steffes. “Cort was able to make some shots for us and we did a good job on the defensive end.”

SECOND HALF –
Fertile-Beltrami continued to execute its game plan to start the second half extending its offensive possessions while frustrating Ada-Borup by forcing their defense to play several minutes per possession. Cort Christianson opened the second-half scoring with 14:47 remaining scoring a lay-up on an in-bound play after he was fouled. Christianson made the free-throw giving the Falcons their largest lead of the game at 22-14. Preston Gwin answered with a three-pointer from the corner trimming Ada-Borup/West’s deficit down to 22-17. Soren Larson received a pass along the baseline and scored at the rim reestablishing a 24-17 lead for Fertile-Beltrami. After a block off the backboard, Preston Gwin pushed the ball up the floor for the Cougars cutting Ada-Borup/West’s deficit down to 24-19. The Cougars were charged with their seventh team foul with twelve minutes to play as Grant Wilson made one free-throw putting Fertile-Beltrami in front 25-19. Cameron Spaeth buried a three-pointer from the corner closing Ada-Borup/West’s gap down to 25-22. “They started hitting some shots and that hurt,” said Coach Steffes. “We had a few turnovers that they took advantage of and that seemed to get them going a bit.” Cort Christianson added a pair of free-throws at the other end of the floor increasing Fertile-Beltrami’s lead to 27-22. Preston Gwin made another three-pointer cutting the deficit down to one point. Grant Wilson responded with a basket at the other end giving Fertile-Beltrami a 29-26 lead. Chase Bucholz connected on a three-pointer from the top of the key tying the score at 29-29. Mason Miller gave Ada-Borup/West its first lead of the second half with a free-throw with 8:57 remaining. Cameron Spaeth added a free-throw increasing the Cougars’ lead to 31-29. After a Preston Gwin free-throw, the Falcons’ Grant Wilson sank a corner three-pointer tying the game at 32-32. Preston Gwin answered with a three-pointer reestablishing a three-point lead for Ada-Borup/West. Off a steal, Chase Bucholz added a score at the rim increasing the Cougars’ lead to five points with 5:17 to play. Verdis Barber scored four straight points to extend Ada-Borup/West’s lead to 43-35 with 2:05 remaining. Addy McCollum tried to help orchestrate a late Fertile-Beltrami comeback scoring a lay-up with 47-seconds left to bring the Falcons within 47-42. Ada-Borup/West was able to ice the game at the free-throw line as Fertile-Beltrami’s valiant effort came up just short in a 53-45 win.  “This is a tough loss,” said Coach Steffes. “I thought we had them in a good spot, but we had some costly turnovers and they started hitting some shots.  Give Ada-Borup/West credit, they are a very good team, but I thought we had them tonight and that is what makes this loss so hard.”  Fertile-Beltrami says goodbye to eight seniors – Cort Christianson, Chase Sirjord, Addy McCollum, Caleb Swenby, Chayz Nelson, Soren Larson, Grant Balstad, and Grant Wilson.  “They are a great group of kids and that’s what makes it so hard to have this season end,” said Coach Steffes. “A lot of people didn’t expect us to be back here and to have 25 wins is pretty amazing.  They worked hard, played together and had a great season.”

Fertile-Beltrami ends its season with a 25-5 record. Ada-Borup/West improves to 27-1 and advances to Section 8A Championship game on Friday when the Cougars will take on the winner of Blackduck and Cass Lake-Bena at 7:00 P.M. in Thief River Falls.