DEER RIVER- The North Woods boys learned why Deer River is rated the second-best team in all of Class A on Friday when the Grizzlies were overwhelmed 95-55 in their regular season finale here.
The Warriors came into the game smarting from a loss to Mt. Iron-Buhl that snapped an 11-game win streak, while the Grizzlies were riding the high of consecutive come-from-behind wins against Chisholm and Ely.
Trajen Barto gave the Grizzlies early hope when he sliced down the lane for a layup that gave North Woods a 2-1 lead, then hit a 12-foot bank shot for a 4-1 lead. But the North Woods advantage disappeared when Cale Jackson scored the first of his game high 28 points on a triple to put the Warriors up 6-4. Deer River moved out to a 13-point edge, but a Barto trifecta and an Aidan Hartway bucket cut the lead back to single digits at 27-19 with about eight minutes left in the half. However, the Grizzlies couldn’t hang with the Warriors as they closed out the half on a demoralizing 15-4 run to carry a 53-29 edge into the locker room.
Now on track, the Warriors never looked back in the second half, going up by 31 at 65-34 with just over four minutes elapsed in the period. Deer River was ahead 84-46 when the running clock kicked in with nine minutes remaining, and both coaches went deep into their benches to close out the contest.
Deer River was nearly unstoppable in the paint, hitting 59 percent of their shots in close and scoring 50. They held North Woods to just 33 percent shooting for the game, and the Warriors dominated the boards, outrebounding the Grizzlies 57-35.
Barto topped North Woods in scoring with 15, followed by Panichi with 12.
The loss left the Grizzlies with a 13-13 record for the regular season, just good enough to earn the eighth seed in the Section 7A tournament and the right to host a home opener against No. 9 Northland, who enters post-season with a 12-14 record. The Eagles won’t be intimidated playing on foreign hardwood, as they scored a 77-65 win at North Woods in December. The game was scheduled for Wednesday, with the winner almost certainly having to face off against No. 1-ranked Cherry on Saturday at Esko.