Northern Freeze fast start the difference in a win over Mahnomen/Waubun in the Section 8A boys basketball quarterfinals

The Mahnomen-Waubun Thunderbirds were outscored by the Northern Freeze 38-16 in the first half and couldn’t mount a comeback as the Freeze won by a score of 72-59 in the Section 8A Quarterfinals at the Ralph Englestad Arena in Thief River Falls.

FIRST HALF –
The Freeze got off to a great start, scoring five points in the first two minutes with the help of a Sawyer Torgerson three-pointer. Another three for the Freeze boosted the lead to 10-2, and then from there the teams exchanged baskets until another Torgerson bucket put the Freeze up 16-6 with 11:34 to go. After this, neither team was able to score for over three minutes, but the Freeze were able to pick things up after that, as a breakaway layup from Torgerson and a three-pointer from Trig Anderson fueled an 11-2 run, putting the Freeze up 27-8 with 5:42 to go. Ethan Jackson got a layup for the Thunderbirds to try and stop the bleeding, but the Freeze were able to maintain a 29-12 lead as the half reached its final 4 minutes. In those final minutes, the Freeze began to assert their dominance on the glass, as Alex Bray scored two putback buckets to put the Freeze up 33-14. Then, Blair Moen scored a three-pointer followed by a breakaway layup to put the Freeze up 24. The Thunderbirds got a bucket in the final minute, but trailed 38-16 at the half.

SECOND HALF –
The Thunderbirds looked to make some adjustments to start the second half, and that started with a quick three-pointer from Anthony Thompson, and that seemed to open things up on both sides. The style went to a complete run-and-gun for the next few minutes, with both teams getting open three-pointers and layups. The Thunderbirds cut the lead down to 44-26, but then Sawyer Torgerson drilled a deep one, followed by a layup on the next possession to put the Freeze up 49-26. Mahnomen-Waubun got the next four points, but then the Freeze started feeding Avynn Ryba, who began to dominate on the glass on defense, as well as the low block on offense. He took the Freeze on a 6-0 run by himself to put the Freeze up 25, forcing a Thunderbird timeout. The Thunderbirds then scored the next eight points of the game before the Freeze had an answer, with Brody Lhotka scoring 5 of them. With 7 minutes to go, fouls were adding up, but that didn’t stop the Freeze from continuing to make plays. Alex Bray hit a shot to put him at 26, and the Freeze back up by 21, and in the final two minutes, the Thunderbirds tried to make a run, and cut the lead down to 13 at 70-57, but they just didn’t have enough, as the Freeze held on to win by a score of 72-59.

The Northern Freeze improve to 17-9 on the year and will play the winner of Win-E-Mac and Red Lake County on Wednesday night in the Semifinals. Mahnomen-Waubun’s season ends with a 16-12 record.