The Jackson County Central Huskies settled for sixth place Friday at the Minnesota State Class 2A Boys Basketball Tournament following a 51-44 defeat at the hands of Pequot Lakes at Concordia University.
The Huskies and Patriots played evenly throughout a lower-scoring first half. JCC held a three-point edge, 19-16, with a little more than five minutes before intermission, but Pequot Lakes was able to eke out in front and go into the locker room ahead of the Huskies, 26-24.
A mini 5-0 burst by JCC put the Huskies up by one, 34-33, a little more than six and half minutes into the second half. The tight game continued and the teams were tied at 44-apiece with 3:47 remaining, but Pequot Lakes wound up tallying the final seven points of the contest.
Sophomore Weston Rowe led JCC offensively with 14 points and another sophomore, Roman Voss, had 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Huskies, who qualified for state by capturing the Section 3AA championship, concluded their 2023-2024 season with a 22-9 record.
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Mountain Lake Area-Comfrey’s Carter Olson scored a game-high 26 points on Friday, but the Wolverines were defeated by Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 83-65 in a consolation semifinal game at the Gangelhoff Center in the Minnesota State Class A Boys Basketball Tournament.
The Wolverines had a 44-43 edge at halftime, but R-T-R dominated the second half and outscored Mountain Lake Area-Comfrey 40-21. Grant Oakland contributed 16 points for the Wolverines in the game, and teammate Alex Karschnik added 12. Olson led his team in assists with six, Kody Wassman contributed eight rebounds and Ashton Toll had seven boards.
Mountain Lake Area-Comfrey had dropped into the consolation semifinals as a result of a 78-54 loss to Nevis on Thursday. Olson had 15 points in that ballgame, Wassman had 13 and Karschniok 10. With Friday’s defeat, the Wolverines concluded their season with a record of 27-5.
