ELY — The Ely boys bounced back from consecutive losses with hard-fought home wins last week against Littlefork-Big Falls and Lake of the Woods as they tune up for the final stretch run of the regular season.
The 8-9 Vikings of LBF gave the Wolves all they could handle on Thursday, but the Wolves were up to the test, prevailing 75-69. The Wolves trailed 8-2 before Drew Johnson canned a trey, Arturo Cameron scored on a putback, and Johnson tallied a fast break deuce for a 9-8 Ely lead. The Wolves opened up a 21-14 edge, but the score was knotted at 23-23 with just over six minutes left in the half. A minor 7-4 edge to close out the period gave the Vikings a 39-36 lead at the break.
Jack Davies got the Wolves on track in the second half with a long trey, igniting a spurt that saw Ely vault to a 49-42 advantage. But with just over nine minutes left, LBF had battled back to take a 57-54 lead. A Davies kickout pass led to a Grant Chittum three-ball that tied the score, and Johnson drove the lane for the go-ahead score at 59-57.
The score was knotted again at 68-68 when Johnson dropped in three charities on consecutive trips down the floor to give Ely a 71-68 edge with just under two minutes left. That was all the edge the Wolves would need as they locked down on defense from there, allowing only one point the rest of the way to claim the six-point win.
Davies led the Wolves with 26 points, while Johnson was hot on his heels with 25. Davies had nine assists, and Cameron hauled down a career-high 15 rebounds.
Friday’s 89-49 pasting of Lake of the Woods wasn’t quite the cakewalk it appeared, at least in the beginning.
“The game was a bit tighter than the final score indicated as they played us really well in the first half and we led 42-32 at halftime,” McDonald said.
The second half, however, was all Ely, as the Wolves shredded the visitors for 47 points while allowing only 17.