by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor
Thief River Falls’ hopes for a section championship in boys basketball faded away over the course of a four-minute overtime period. The Prowlers were outscored 11-1 in overtime as the third-seeded Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Rebels pulled off the 77-67 upset over top-seeded Thief River Falls in Friday night’s Section 8AA championship game at Detroit Lakes High School.
“I thought we had a great season overall,” said Thief River Falls Head Coach Jon Hams. “Many goals were met except for the most obvious one. Guys gave the program their all and led in a way they should be proud of. I think if a couple of calls go our way in the last five minutes of regulation and the game probably has a different outcome.”
The Prowlers defeated the Rebels 66-53 in the Brickhouse on Thursday, Jan. 5. The final score on that night avenged a Prowler loss to the Rebels in the semifinal round of the 2022 Section 8AA tournament. It also was a bit misleading, as the Rebels were playing in just their fourth game of the season after they started late due to the school’s football team reaching the state championship game on Dec. 3.
The Rebels’ unquestioned team leader, Owen Leach, had a rather pedestrian night when the teams met in January. On Friday, Leach was in top-form and at times he took over the game in a 50-point effort for the NCAA Division II University of Minnesota Duluth commit.
The Prowlers got off to a slow start and the Rebels took advantage with a pair of early buckets from 6-5 senior Grant Anderson.
The Prowlers got on the board with a Caleb Rosendahl layup, but the Rebels answered with Leach’s first points of the game on lefthanded layup after he got past Jack Manning.
Manning got on the board on the following possession with a three-point bucket to get the Prowlers within one point of the Rebels.
The Prowlers were down 8-5 when they went on their first big run of the game with a three-pointer by Caleb Rosendahl and back-to-back two-pointers by Jake Friedrich and Jack Rosendahl to put the Prowlers in front 12-8.
The Rebels answered with a 9-0 run, with Leach scoring six of the nine points, to go in front 17-12.
The Prowlers trailed by as many as 12 points in the opening half, including a 31-19 deficit with just over four minutes remaining. The Prowlers outscored the Rebels 11-5 over the final four minutes of the first half to make the score 36-30 at the break.
After struggling to score over the final four minutes of the opening half, the Rebels got hot again early in the second half and led by as many as nine points as Leach faked left and spun to his right to hit a jumpshot that made the score 45-36 with 12:50 remaining in the game.
Jake Friedrich hit a timely three-pointer on the ensuing possession that made the score 46-40. The Prowlers’ deficit ranged from two to six points over the next five minutes.
Jack Rosendahl got hot from the outside over the final eight minutes of the game. He drained a three-pointer to pull the Prowlers to within two of the Rebels at 54-52 with just over seven minutes left to play. He sunk another three to make the score 56-55 with 5:40 left to play and answered a three-point bucket by Leach with his third consecutive three-pointer to keep the Prowlers within one point of the Rebels at 59-58 with 4:55 remaining.
Manning, the Prowlers’ regular season scoring leader, was forced to take more mid-ranged jumpers than he is accustomed to and struggled at times before finding his stroke in time to score the final six points in regulation for the Prowlers. Manning’s final bucket tied the game 66-66 with 26.8 seconds remaining.
Much like it did two nights earlier, the Prowlers came up big defensively in the final seconds and kept the Rebels from getting any decent looks at the basket while forcing the game to overtime.
Jack Rosendahl drew a foul early in the four-minute overtime period and made the second of two free throw attempts to give the Prowlers a 67-66 lead. It was the Prowlers’ first lead since they had a 12-10 advantage with 12:40 remaining in the first half. It would also be the Prowlers’ final lead of the night as the Rebels went ahead for good on a three-point bucket by Leach.
The Prowlers went cold offensively at the wrong time and failed to score again in the overtime period. Leach went 7-for-8 from the foul line in overtime to add to his three-pointer. Drew Sheely went 1-for-2 from the line and scored the only other overtime points for the Rebels, who slowly pulled away in the extra period.
Leach led all scorers with 50 points.
“He is a big, tall and skilled player that you need to guard all over,” Hams said.
Jack Rosendahl led the Prowlers with 23 points, including a 4-for-10 night from beyond the arc. Jack Manning, 18, and Caleb Rosendahl, 15, were also in double figures for the Prowlers.
Friday night’s game was the final game in a Prowler uniform for Manning, Jack Rosendahl, Friedrich and Jesse McDougall. McDougall scored 6 points in his final game and Friedrich scored 5 points.
Hams said this group of four has meant the world to Prowler basketball.
“We are going to graduate the school’s men’s scoring leader and another guy in Jack Rosendahl that was a three-year starter and would have scored 1,000 without COVID,” Hams said. “Jake [Friedrich] has a game that underclassmen should emulate with his work ethic and strength, and McDougall provided that spark to offense that made us hard to guard.”
Scoring
1 2 OT T
DGF 36 30 11 77
Thief River Falls 30 36 1 67
DGF – Karson Steichen 4, Drew Sheeley 4, Owen Leach 50, Brody Friend 4, Peyton Aas 5, Grant Anderson 10.
TRF – Jesse McDougall 6, Caleb Rosendahl 15, Jack Rosendahl 23, Jake Friedrich 5, Jack Manning 18.
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 – Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 77, Thief River Falls 67 (OT).
Class AA State Tournament
• Quarterfinals Tuesday, March 21 at Target Center – Eden Valley-Watkins vs. Holy Family; Minnehaha Academy vs. Maple River;
• Quarterfinals Tuesday, March 21 at Williams Arena – Pequot Lakes vs. Albany; Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton vs. Plainview-Elgin-millville.
• Consolation semifinals, Wednesday, March 22 at Concordia St. Paul, 6 p.m., 8 p.m.
• Consolation Championship, Thursday, March 23 at Concordia St. Paul, 2 p.m..
• Semifinals, Friday, March 24 at Target Center 6 p.m., 8 p.m.
• Third place game, Saturday, March 25 at Concorida St. Paul, noon.
• Championship game, Saturday, March 25 at Target Center 1 p.m.