by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor
A short jump shot by Jack Rosendahl hit the bottom of the net with 14.1 seconds left to give Thief River Falls a one-point lead over the Hawley Nuggets in Wednesday’s Section 8AA semifinal boys basketball game at Detroit Lakes High School. The Prowlers stood tall defensively from there to claim a 66-65 win and advance to Friday night’s Section 8AA boys basketball championship game.
The Prowlers will face the Rebels of Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton in Friday night’s championship game at Detroit Lakes High School. Third-seeded DGF defeated Barnesville 65-45 in Wednesday night’s second semifinal game.
Wednesday night’s game between the Prowlers and Nuggets was close throughout, with neither team leading by more than six points at any point in the contest.
Prior to the game, Thief River Falls Head Coach Jon Hams said he liked the way his team matched up with Hawley, but he noted the Nuggets had two scorers – Brevin Stoa and Sam Senske – who could get hot and make the Nuggets a tough team to beat. The Prowlers contained Stoa for the most part, holding him to 11 points, but they were unable to slow down Senske who almost single-handedly kept the Nuggets in the game with 36 points.
“Between Stoa and Senske for them, the Senske kid hit some amazing shots to keep them in it,” Hams said. “I thought we did a good job of getting in and getting into power. We missed a few shots that I thought we should have had – we have to clean that up a little bit, but this is what March and playoff basketball is all about – back and forth, both coaches trying to pull strings at certain points.”
The Prowlers defeated the Nuggets 82-62 in their first meeting in January and early on it looked like the Prowlers would win big again with scores by Jack Manning and Jack Rosendahl giving the team a 4-0 lead 20 seconds into the contest. The Nuggets tightened things up defensively and scored nine unanswered points to go in front 9-4.
The five-point lead was the biggest of the game for the Nuggets. The Prowlers settled down and overtook the Nuggets with a 13-4 run that gave them a 17-13 lead with just under seven minutes left to play in the half.
The Nuggets answered with a 7-0 run to go in front 20-17 with six minutes left in the first half.
The Prowlers responded with a 15-7 run over the final six minutes of the half to take a 32-27 advantage into the locker room.
Both coaches were quick to call timeouts to halt momentum when the other team seemed to be gaining too much of it. Hams may have saved the Prowlers’ season with a timeout early in the second half. The Prowlers had just gone in front 38-32 on a two-point bucket by Manning when Senske scored seven points – a two-point bucket, a three-pointer after a quick Prowler turnover and a dunk after a quick steal – in a 20-second span to give the Nuggets a 39-38 lead with 15:05 left to play.
“I called a timeout because I didn’t like the lineup we had on the floor,” Hams said.
The move paid off. The Prowlers changed their lineup and quickly regained the lead with a two-point bucket by Manning on the following possession.
“I thought we executed really well,” Hams said. “Jack Rosendahl had a heck of a game. Jack Manning was pretty solid like he normally is. Our starters did a lot of things that they are supposed to do. Off the bench, you think about Gannon [Zutz] stepping out and hitting a big three in the first half. Austin [Potucek], Nathan [Nelson] and Maxton [Peterson] did what they are supposed to do defensively.”
The final score may not fully reflect it, but Wednesday’s game was physical with several fast breaks mixed in as two-run and gun teams worked to hold each other down. The Nuggets made seven three-pointers in the game, with six of the seven coming in the second half.
“It helps when we are the team with a little bit of a lead so we can absorb a little bit of a run,” Hams said. “Hawley got behind us, they were trying to play catch-up the whole time and that gets a little bit tougher on them. It’s important to play with a lead in games like this because you can give away a couple.”
The Prowlers were up 61-56 with a little over three minutes left to play. Junior Maxton Peterson took a pass underneath the bucket and attempted a shot off the glass that was blocked by Senske, who ended up sinking one of his four second-half three-pointers to make the score 61-59 with 2:43 left to play.
The Prowlers were up 63-61 when Jack Rosendahl made the second of two free throw attempts to make it a three-point ballgame with a minute remaining.
The Nuggets cut the lead to one point on a Noah Nelson bucket with 45 seconds left to play and they took a 65-64 lead on a score by Senske with 22 seconds left to play.
The Prowlers used a timeout to set up Jack Rosendahl’s go-ahead score with 14 seconds remaining.
Senske brought the ball up the court for the Nuggets on the ensuing possession. He drove toward the right-hand side of the bucket and his potential game-winning shot went to the side of the backboard. Jack Rosendahl grabbed the rebound only to step out of bounds, giving the ball back to Hawley with 1.7 seconds left.
The Nuggets used their final timeout to talk things over. They lined up to inbound the pass and the horn sounded inadvertently as the ball was being inbounded. The clock ran, but confusion ensued as the clock hit double zeros.
After a discussion with the scoring table, the referees met with both coaches and decided to restart the game with 1.7 seconds remaining. The cause of the inadvertent horn was apparently due to the original final play starting before the one-minute timeout clock had expired.
On the re-do, the Prowlers were solid defensively. The Nuggets tried to inbound to Senske, but Senske was double teamed and the ball ended up bouncing past Senske toward the middle of the court where it was collected by Jesse McDougall who dribbled it until the final horn sounded for a Prowler win.
Senske led all scorers with 36 points. Manning finished with 26 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Prowlers. Jack Rosendahl also had a big night with 20 points and four rebounds.
Scoring
1 2 T
Hawley 27 38 65
Thief River Falls 32 34 66
Hawley – Mason Gratton 2, Brevin Stoa 11, Noah Nelson 5, Landon Bakke 5, Davann Stock 2, Sam Senske 36, Derek Tibbetts 4.
TRF – Jesse McDougall 4, Caleb Rosendahl 11, Jack Rosendahl 20, Gannon Zutz 3, Jake Friedrich 2, Jack Manning 26.
Section 8AA Playoffs
• First round, Thursday, March 9 at high seed – Thief River Falls 79, Menahga 45; Pelican Rapids 64, Red Lake 63; Hawley 76, Crookston 40; Wadena-Deer Creek 52, Park Rapids Area 50; Perham 92, Roseau 39; Barnesville 72, Fergus Falls 61; Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 74, Warroad 48; East Grand Forks 77, Frazee 62.
• Quarterfinals, Monday, March 13 at high seeds – Thief River Falls 78, Pelican Rapids 63; Hawley 74, Wadena-Deer Creek 54; Barnesville 48, Perham 42; Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 75, East Grand Forks 62.
• Semifinals, Wednesday, March 15 at Detroit Lakes – Thief River Falls 66, Hawley 65; Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 63, Barnesville 45.
• Championship, Friday, March 17, 7 p.m. at Detroit Lakes – Thief River Falls vs. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton.