by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor
Thief River Falls’ bid to reach the Section 8AA final four for the fourth time in five years ended with 73-50 loss to Staples-Motley Saturday night in Staples.
The Cardinals are back in Section 8AA after spending the previous four years in Section 7AA. The Cardinals are also part of the Heart O’ Lakes Conference, which is predominantly made up of Section 8AA teams.
“We had a similar game plan as the Roseau game,” said Thief River Falls Head Coach Jon Hams. “We wanted to limit their points in transition and hold their best scorer down along with controlling the paint.”
The Prowlers trailed 31-11 with 4:34 left in the first half, before a Wyatt Nelson three ignited a 16-4 run that cut the deficit to eight points at the half.
“We had a slow start, missing something like our first five or six shots, which allowed them to jump to a lead that we had trouble with catching up,” Hams said. “We made a nice run before the half to get with in eight, after being down 21.”
The Prowlers got to within six of the Cardinals on a couple of occasions early in the second half, but the Cardinals took firm control of the game with a 13-0 run to take a 50-37 lead with just under 14 minutes left to play.
“We stayed relatively even at the start of the second half but a few turnovers and missed shots put us down double digits and we couldn’t respond in time,” Hams said.
Staples-Motley’s Avandre Brandt led all scorers with 23 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. Josiah Burton also reached double figures for the Cardinals with 11 points. Conner Kuhns was the Cardinals’ assist leader with seven.
The Prowlers were led by the senior trio of Bridger Wilcox, Nelson and Tucker Grindeland, who scored 16, 13 and 12 points, respectively. Wilcox added 14 rebounds for a double-double. Dylan Osowski led the Prowlers in assists with four.
Saturday’s game was the final game wearing a Prowler uniform for Grindeland, Wilcox, Nelson, Jett Cornelius, Casey Nelson, Osowski and Cooper Skjerven.
“This was a great group of seniors all of them with their own strengths that they brought to the team,” Hams said. “They have served as role models and will be missed. The underclassmen are going to have some big shoes to fill next year as we look to replace seven guys who essentially played a large majority of all the minutes this year. As a coaching staff, we wish them the best and with the work ethic they displayed during basketball they will see success in their future.”
Scoring
1 2 T
Thief River Falls 27 23 50
Staples-Motley 35 38 73
TRF – Tucker Grindeland 12, Bridger Wilcox 16, Wyatt Nelson 13, Jett Corneilus 2, Connor Bruce 3, Dylan Osowski 4.
Staples-Motley – Tyson Turner 2, Conner Kuhns 6, Atreyu Eagle Tail 3, Carter Sarbaum 5, John Schotzko 1, Josiah Burton 11, Eli Rutten 14, Noah Larson 8, Avandre Brandt 23.