FERTILE-BELTRAMI TAKES DOWN BGMR IN SECTION 8A BOY’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

The Fertile-Beltrami Falcons used a balanced scoring attack and stifling defense to beat Badger-Greenbush-Middle River 73-57 in the Section 8A Boy’s Basketball Tournament quarterfinals at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls.

1st Half –
Zac Blawat opened the first half scoring with a turn around jump shot giving BGMR a 2-0 lead before Caleb Swenby answered with a lay-up tying the score at 2-2. Kasen Swenson finished a lay-up through a foul tacking on the free-throw giving the Gators a 5-2 lead. Swenson buried a three-pointer on BGMR’s next possession increasing the Gators’ lead to 8-2. “You know teams are going to come out ready to play,” said Fertile-Beltrami Coach Neil Steffes. “You need to be able to get through it and I thought we were fine at that point.”  Addy McCollum sank a jump shot from the right-elbow halting BGMR’s 6-0 run and bringing Fertile-Beltrami within 8-4. Grant Wilson connected on a corner three-pointer on the Falcons’ next trip down the floor cutting the deficit down to 8-7. Trailing 10-7, Grant Wilson was fouled while scoring at the rim, he made the free-throw tying the game at 10-10. Soren Larson converted a steal into a lay-up at the other end of the floor giving Fertile-Beltrami its first lead of the first-half at 12-10. Addy McCollum grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back up and in extending the lead to 14-10. Another steal and offensive rebound earned Everett Balstad a trip to the free-throw line. Balstad made one free-throw extending the Falcons’ lead to 15-10. Grant Wilson continued Fertile-Beltrami’s run making two more free-throws increasing the lead to 17-10. Off a steal, Cort Christianson dribbled the ball to the other end of the floor for a lay-up putting the Falcons in front 19-10 with 8:32 to play in the first half. “It seemed like were on the verge of making a run, but we made a mistake or turned the ball over each time,” said Coach Steffes. Jaden Kostrzewski snapped a six-minute scoring drought for the Gators with a floater trimming BGMR’s deficit down to 19-12. Adam Benke scored with a runner off the backboard pulling the Gators within 19-14, but Everett Balstad answered with a jump shot before connecting on a three-pointer giving Fertile-Beltrami a 24-16 lead. Kobey Dallager made a pair of free-throws bringing the Gators within 24-18 with 5:30 to play in the first half. Everett Balstad connected on two free-throws at the other end of the floor reestablishing a 26-18 lead for Fertile-Beltrami. Adam Benke made a pair of free-throws for BGMR to pull within 26-20. Everett Balstad responded with a lay-up through a body bump earning a trip to the free-throw line where he increased the Falcons’ lead to 29-20. The two sides continued trading scores with the Fertile-Beltrami’s lead remaining at nine heading into the final minute of the first half. Kobey Dallager scored a lay-up off an offensive rebound trimming the Falcons’ lead down to 35-28 at halftime.  “I thought we played well defensively,” said Coach Steffes. “Offensively, I thought we held on to the ball too much and weren’t moving it well so we stressed that at halftime.”

2nd Half –
Caleb Swenby opened the second half scoring with a lay-up before Grant Wilson buried a three-pointer extending Fertile Beltrami’s lead to 40-28. Kaden Opdahl made a lay-up through a foul sinking the free-throw bringing the Gators within 40-31. Fertile-Beltrami continued to maintain a comfortable lead with Rylin Petry sinking two free-throws extending the lead to 44-32 with 13:20 to play. The Falcons defense continued its relentless on-ball pressure as the offense extended the lead to 51-37 halfway through the second half. A lay-up by Cort Christianson extended Fertile-Beltrami’s lead to 53-37 with 8:56 to play in the game giving the Falcons’ their largest lead of the game. Badger-Greenbush-Middle River pulled within eleven points with 5:20 to play, but Rylin Petry connected with a three-pointer increasing the Fertile-Beltrami lead to 64-50. The Falcons were able to close out the game at the free-throw line in the final minutes securing a 73-57 victory.  “We had two guys off the bench have good games with Rylin Petry and Everrett Bolstad playing well,” said Coach Steffes. “Grant Wilson had a nice game for us too.  I thought we played well enough defensively.  We had some guys step up and overall it was a total team effort.”

Fertile-Beltrami improves to 25-4 on the year and advance to the Section 8A Tournament semifinal on Monday when they’ll take on Ada-Borup West at 6:00 P.M. on KROX (pre-game show at 5:30 p.m.). Badger-Greenbush-Middle River ends its season with a 21-7 record.