HILL CITY— The Wolves posted back-to-back wins this week to improve to 19-6 as they head into their regular season finale on Friday, against Fond du Lac.
Playing at Hill City on Monday, Ely outpaced the Hornets 59-43. “We played well enough to win,” said Ely Head Coach Tom McDonald. “We struggled shooting the ball from the perimeter and played well enough defensively.”
Senior point guard Joey Bianco had another big night for the Wolves, pouring in 22 points, while adding nine rebounds and eight assists, narrowly missing a triple-double. Freshman Jack Davies added 15 points for Ely.
Ely notched a more impressive performance against South Ridge last Friday, as they topped the Panthers 56-32. “We played really well defensively against their huge lineup,” said McDonald. “They have two 6’-9” guys on the team and we limited them to nine points on the night.”
Bianco had another big night, posting a double-double with 22 points and 10 boards along with six assists. Davies added 17 points and senior Erron Anderson tallied eight boards.
With the playoffs set to get underway next week, the Wolves are focused mostly on staying healthy. “We’re also working hard on the defensive end as our hopes will rely on how well we can defend against the better teams in the section.
I think anyone seeded one through four is good enough to win the section and anyone seeded below that will have to play extremely well to beat them.”
Currently, McDonald expects Cherry, Mt. Iron-Buhl, Deer River, and Northland to make up the top four seeds in Section 7A. Final pairings for the playoffs will be decided this weekend after the final games of the regular season.