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Grizzlies fall short against Warriors

End their season in semi-final round

David Colburn
Posted 3/23/22

DULUTH- Anyone who thought the North Woods boys were going to have an easy time of it when they went up by 15 in the first half against Deer River in last week’s 7A sectional tourney semifinal …

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Grizzlies fall short against Warriors

End their season in semi-final round

Posted

DULUTH- Anyone who thought the North Woods boys were going to have an easy time of it when they went up by 15 in the first half against Deer River in last week’s 7A sectional tourney semifinal game in Duluth had a very short memory.
When these two teams squared off at North Woods in the final game of the regular season on March 4, it was the Grizzlies who clawed their way back from a first-half deficit and then battled the Warriors to the wire to win 78-75. With teams as evenly matched as the Grizzlies and Warriors, no early lead was safe, and the result on March 16 was the reverse – Deer River pulled the come-from-behind 66-62 win to knock North Woods out of the tourney and end their season.
Brenden Chiabotti nailed a 15-foot jumper on the Grizzlies’ first possession and Sean Morrison hit from under the bucket on the next to get the team off to a good start. Three-balls by T.J. Chiabotti and Jared Chiabotti put North Woods ahead 14-4 with just over five minutes elapsed in the game.
Shots weren’t dropping for the Warriors, but they were for the Grizzlies, as North Woods used all the tools in its arsenal and scores from Morrison, T.J. Chiabotti, and Davis Kleppe to forge an improbable 23-8 lead with seven minutes remaining in the half.
“Everything was going our way,” Grizzlies Head Coach Will Kleppe said. “Our shots were falling, the ball was bouncing our way, we were getting calls, I mean we were really getting everything out of that game. Deer River was just struggling to get their legs and to get some shots to fall. But I knew that game was far from over, even with our lead that early, knowing that it was going to be hard to play with that lead.”
Kleppe’s thoughts were prophetic, as the Warriors put on a late first-half surge and carried momentum with them into the locker room, trailing by only eight, 35-27.
North Woods had the chance to reset the tone on its first possession of the half, but a three-pointer by Jared Chiabotti missed the mark, and Deer River responded with an 8-0 blitz to knot the score 35-35 at the 14:06 mark. The tide had clearly turned, as over the next five minutes the Warriors built a 54-45 advantage, a run fueled by ten points from standout guard Ty Morrison.
“We came out after the half wanting to get a bucket to stop their momentum, and they tied it before we even knew what we were doing,” Kleppe said. “We looked for some quick-hitting plays to get to the rim and not settle for threes, but with Deer River’s intensity they forced us out of our comfort zone. We had a couple of turnovers, we missed some shots, and then we were in for a battle.”
But the Grizzlies would not go quietly. A resurgent defense held the Warriors in check as Jared Chiabotti hit a pair of charities and Morrison scored underneath to narrow the gap to 54-49. Chiabotti then amped up heat, going on a tear from beyond the arc. In about two minutes he put up three rainbows and made all of them, the last putting North Woods back in the lead, 58-56, with 5:48 to play.
Deer River went back up 64-62 with just over two minutes to play, and neither team could score from the field the rest of the way in a frenetic finish. North Woods had a final chance to tie with 12 seconds remaining. Sean Morrison’s free throws missed the mark, and the Warriors tacked on a final pair of charities for the 66-62 win.
“We just couldn’t stop that swing,” Kleppe said. “That’s tournament basketball. We see it all the time. We tried to make a few adjustments, but credit to Deer River, they really had things go their way.”
Deer River didn’t have 6’5” center Tait Kongsjord for the March 4 game, and while he didn’t factor in the scoring, adding his height to the advantage the Warriors already had over the Grizzlies helped them to limit what the Grizzlies could do inside the paint, Kleppe said. North Woods put up 13 fewer two-point shots compared to the first game and also had a dozen fewer trips to the free-throw line.
North Woods finished the season with a record of 24-5, and Kleppe noted that the Grizzlies achieved that mark by playing a tougher schedule this season.
“There’s been some pressure to kind of beef up the schedule,” Kleppe said, noting that the slate included eight games against Class AA schools and a tough 1-1 holiday tournament outing against 5A sectional champion and state qualifier Nevis and Ashby, a team that finished 23-4.
“Going into the year, my biggest challenge was that we had to get some guys to accept some roles,” Kleppe said. “Not everybody gets to be the scorer out there every game. We had to get guys comfortable with focusing on their defense, and a lot of our success hinged on those guys who took on those roles and contributed. That was the most pleasant surprise this season, that we got that buy-in.”