FIELD TWP- The North Woods boys basketball team matched their longest winning streak of the season on Tuesday with a fifth consecutive win, beating International Falls 92-47.
After falling behind 3-1, a Talen Jarshaw three-ball gave the Grizzlies a lead they would never relinquish. Jonah Burnett scored on four consecutive Broncos turnovers against the press to put North Woods up 18-9. The Grizzlies struggled to put distance between them, however, as I-Falls figured out the press and was able to keep pace. Up 12 at 38-26 with five minutes left in the first half, North Woods finally got on a roll with a 19-6 run going into the break. Luke Will scored six points on three consecutive possessions and Burnett added two more buckets before the buzzer for a more comfortable 57-32 lead.
North Woods opened the second half with a pair of deuces from Burnett and a trey and a two from Jarshaw to go up 66-32 before the Broncos scored their first point of the period on a free throw. The Broncos scored only three points through the first eight minutes of the half as the North Woods lead ballooned to 79-35. The scoring pace tapered off from there, but the damage was done as the Grizzlies rolled to the dominating win.
While the home crowd was jubilant over the win, Grizzlies Head Coach Andrew Jugovich was less enthusiastic about his team’s performance.
“It was ugly,” he said. “I’m really not happy with our performance, especially in the first half. In the second half we played better defensively. In the first half we gave a lot of open shots and they broke our press down really easily. Those are things at this point in the year we can’t have. But let this be the one time this week that we don’t play up to par.”
Burnett scored 22 of his team-leading 28 points in the first half. Jarshaw knocked down three treys en route to a 22-point performance, and Will scored 14.
Littlefork-Big Falls
The Grizzlies went on the road last Friday to take on Littlefork-Big Falls, and the Vikings gave the Grizzlies just the sort of test they needed heading into the home stretch of the regular season.
The Grizzlies had to come from behind to win this one, as the Vikings were an equal match for the Grizzlies’ up tempo style of play. The lead swapped hands in the early going until the Vikings took at 21-20 advantage with 8:30 left in the first half. L-BF went on a 9-0 run to lead 29-20, and canned a trey to take their biggest lead of the half at 37-27. The teams went into the locker room with the Grizzlies staring at a 47-40 deficit.
The Grizzlies quickly got back into it at the start of the second half with a deuce from Aidan Hartway, two free throws each by Will and Louie Panichi, and bucket by Burnett to pull withing 49-48. Jarshaw canned a corner trey on the next trip down the court to give North Woods its first lead since early in the first half, 51-49. The hotly contested battle swayed back and forth, with North Woods holding an 80-79 edge with 4:17 to play. That’s when the Grizzlies took control with a 9-2 run, getting another triple from Jarshaw and buckets from Hartway, Burnett and Panichi. North Woods sealed the win with six points in the final minute, getting fast break buckets from Jarshaw, Panichi and Burnett to win 101-89.
Jugovich was decidedly more upbeat about this win.
“Littlefork-Big Falls is a very good team – they’re fast and might even put us to shame with their speed. But our boys persevered. The first half we lost by seven, the second half we won by 19. Jonah carried us through that first half through our shooting troubles and then Talen in the second – he played phenomenally. We finally dug deep and got that good win. I was happy with them. I was proud of them.”
The Grizzlies had a hot hand from the field, shooting 55 percent. They also had one of their best nights of the year at the charity stripe, going 25-of-35 for 71 percent. And the Grizzlies won despite having eight more turnovers than the Vikings, 21-13.
Burnett had a monster 40-point performance to lead the Grizzlies. But he had plenty of support, as North Woods had four more players in double figures, including Jarshaw with 19, Panichi with 17, Will with 12, and Hartway with 11.
The Grizzlies were set to close out the week with a pair of home contests, taking on Fond du Lac on Thursday and hosting Mesabi East on Friday. The Grizzlies will be at home again next Tuesday against Hill City.