The Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball team used a strong second half and cruised to a 70-43 victory in the Section 8A quarterfinals at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls.
FIRST HALF –
The game was back-and-forth at the start, with Warren-Alvarado-Oslo leading 8-6 three minutes into the game. The Ponies kicked up the defensive pressure over the next six minutes and went on a 10-1 run. The run started with a Jackson Woinarowicz basket, followed by a Dustin Moehrle basket. After a Freeze free throw, the Ponies’ Nathan Sedlacek and Kaden Pierce made a free throw apiece before Pierce made a baseline jump shot for an 18-7 lead with 7:48 left in the half. The teams would play even the rest of the half with Warren-Alvarado-Oslo outscoring the Northern Freeze 13-12 to take a 31-19 lead into halftime.
SECOND HALF –
Northern Freeze out scored the Ponies 4-2 to start the second half only to have WAO’s Woinarowicz answer with a three point play and Pierce followed with a three pointer for 39-23 lead. The Ponies continued to slowly build on their lead and took a 55-37 lead on a beautiful move by Mortimer inside halfway through the half. WAO finally expanded their lead to 20-plus points behind an 8-0 run with two free throws from Mortimer and six points from Woinarowicz for a 65-41 lead with 4:12 remaining. The Freeze finally stopped the run with a basket before both teams went to the bench and WAO coasted to a 70-43 victory.
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo improves to 25-3 on the year and will play Sacred Heart in the Section 8A semi-finals (West Sub-Section championship game) at 7:45 PM and can be heard on KROX Radio or viewed on the KROX video stream. Northern Freeze season comes to an end with a record of 18-9.
FOR PONIES COACH CHRISTIAN ERICKSON’S COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW
|
|
1st
|
2nd
|
Final
|
| Northern Freeze | 19 | 24 | 43 |
| Warren-Alvarado-Oslo | 31 | 39 | 70 |
|
For WAO
|
Points
|
Rebounds
|
Assists/Steals
|
| Kaden Pierce | 20 | 2 | |
| Tyson Mortimer | 16 | 5 | 5 assists/5 steals |
| Jackson Woinarowicz | 16 | 6 | 1 block |
| Braylee Schroeder | 11 | 4 | 2 assists/1 steal |
| Adam McIntyre | 4 | 2 | 1 assist/2 steals |
| Dustin Moehrle | 2 | 5 | 1 block |
| Nathan Sedlacek | 1 | 4 | 1 steal |
|
For Northern Freeze
|
Points
|
| Everett Nelson | 21 |
| Caleb Bray | 9 |
| Ryder Blazejewski | 8 |
| Gavin Hockstedler | 2 |
| Noah Underdahl | 2 |
| Cade Knutsen | 1 |
