by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor
The Thief River Falls boys basketball rallied from double-digit halftime deficits in both games last week to extend its winning streak to five games.
On Monday, Dec. 29, the Prowlers hosted unbeaten Stephen-Argyle. The Prowlers overcame a 37-26 halftime deficit to defeat the Storm 64-62. Then, on Friday, the Prowlers rallied from a 34-24 deficit to pick up an 84-71 road win over Hawley.
“Three games in a row we had been down double digits at half,” said Head Coach Jon Hams. “The team did a good job of trusting each other and in the second half of each game, we had other scoring outside of Bridger [Wilcox], which meant we were able to spread the defense out. On the other side of the floor, we were able to hold the opposition to several scoreless minutes while creating some easy buckets ourselves. We seem to be undersized at each spot against most teams we play.”
The Prowlers trailed 6-0 early in the first half but went on a 6-2 run to cut the deficit to two points. That would be as close as they would get for the remainder of the opening half. The Storm went on an 11-3 run to take their first double-digit lead of the evening.
The Prowlers battled back, cutting the deficit to four at one point, trailing 19-15, but the Storm always seemed to have an answer. The Storm led by as many as 13 in the first half, before the Prowlers closed to within 11 at the break.
The Prowlers were still down 10, 52-42, with just under 10 minutes remaining in the contest. Casey Nelson hit a three pointer to make it a seven-point game with 9:20 remaining.
With his team trailing by seven with 2:51 remaining, Wyatt Nelson came up big with a clutch three pointer that made the score 60-56.
The Prowlers trailed 62-56 on their next possession when Wyatt Nelson drained another three-pointer to make it a three-point game with two minutes remaining.
After a defensive stop, the Prowlers tied the game on a Bridger Wilcox three with 1:24 remaining.
Both teams got defensive stops. The Storm had two chances to regain the lead. Thief River Falls senior Tucker Grindeland blocked a shot by Shay Setterholm with just over a minute remaining. With just under five seconds remaining, Wilcox stole a pass from Anders Thompson and sprinted up the court for the game-winning bucket.
“I was surprised how long SAC was,” Hams said. “Adjustment wise for us was to keep the ball pinned to a side making it harder for them to start their offense.”
Wilcox led the Prowlers with 36 points and 10 rebounds. Wyatt Nelson also finished in double figures with 13 points.
Caden Pagnac was the Storm’s leading scorer with 24 points. Raydon Woinarowicz scored a dozen and Anders Thompson finished the night with 10 points for the Storm who fell to 5-1 with the loss.
Four days after the comeback against the Storm, the Prowlers got off to a slow start in Hawley against a Nuggets team that brought a misleading 2-5 record into Friday night’s game.
The Prowlers trailed by as many as 13 in the second half. Wyatt Nelson started the rally with a three-point bucket with just under 17 minutes remaining.
The Prowlers pulled even around the 10-minute mark and began to pull away over the final 10 minutes.
Hams said the key to the comeback win over Hawley was to adjust to the Nuggets’ pressure and create steals to catch up.
Wilcox led all scorers with 35 points. Grindeland scored a season-high 19 points and Wyatt Nelson also finished in double figures with 11 points.
The Prowlers improved to 6-1 with the wins over the Storm and Nuggets.
Scoring
1 2 T
Stephen-Argyle 37 25 62
Thief River Falls 26 38 64
SAC MIN REB AST STL PF PTS
A. Thompson 34 6 3 3 2 10
R. Woinarowicz 35 7 3 2 2 12
Shay Setterholm 35 5 7 0 1 9
Dylan Widner 16 1 3 1 1 3
Caden Pagnac 35 14 2 2 0 24
Jake Carlson 15 5 1 0 1 0
Owen Widner 17 2 0 0 0 4
Totals – 40 19 8 7 62
TRF MIN REB AST STL PF PTS
T. Grindeland 24 9 3 3 2 4
Bridger Wilcox 37 10 0 5 2 36
Wyatt Nelson 35 1 2 2 3 13
Jett Cornelius 32 2 2 1 0 2
Casey Nelson 17 3 1 1 0 3
Connor Bruce 13 1 3 0 1 6
Lane Waldal 6 2 0 2 1 0
Dylan Osowski 13 0 0 0 0 0
Spencer Skaar 8 1 2 0 0 0
Totals – 29 13 14 9 64
Scoring
1 2 T
Thief River Falls 24 60 84
Hawley 34 37 71
TRF MIN REB AST STL PF PTS
T. Grindeland 29 9 1 3 2 19
Bridger Wilcox 36 19 5 4 2 35
Wyatt Nelson 32 1 2 2 2 11
Jett Cornelius 34 3 0 1 0 7
Casey Nelson 15 2 1 1 3 2
Connor Bruce 8 3 0 0 2 1
Lane Waldal 3 1 1 0 0 2
Dylan Osowski 28 1 3 1 2 5
Spencer Skaar 5 1 0 0 1 2
Totals – 40 13 12 14 84
Hawley MIN REB AST STL PF PTS
Gavin Gratton 9 0 1 0 3 2
M. Crompton 29 9 3 2 1 4
Brody Hadley 22 3 1 0 1 6
Coleman Hoff 28 2 2 2 2 14
Linkoln Midthun 17 5 1 1 2 12
Elliot Lee 25 4 2 2 4 11
Evan Schenck 11 2 2 3 3 2
Hudson Midthun 3 0 0 0 1 0
Ethan McNally 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jaxon Schenck 21 3 2 2 4 14
Tucker Anderson 23 4 0 0 3 6
Eddie Olson 1 1 0 0 0 0
Riley Edwards 1 0 1 0 0 0
Totals – 33 15 12 24 71
Section 8AA
Overall QRF
W L
Thief River Falls 6 1 58.4
East Grand Forks 6 2 56.1
DGF 5 3 51.5
Osakis 5 2 51.0
Barnesville 5 3 49.2
Perham 4 3 46.4
Staples-Motley 4 3 42.6
Warroad 7 6 38.4
Hawley 2 6 29.1
Wadena-Deer Creek 2 4 26.8
Roseau 2 7 23.2
Menahga 3 5 21.8
Park Rapids Area 1 4 17.5
Crookston 0 5 8.4