North Edges Blaine in Overtime Basketball Thriller

The Lakeville North boy's basketball team defeated Blaine 57-53 in a physical battle that earned them third place in the Lakeville Rotary Holiday Basketball Tournament.

The victory was North's first of the season, and it proved to be sweet for a squad that's had a slow start on the year.

"It's been a very frustrating start to the year because of the competition we have played and our struggle with injuries," Lakeville North Head Coach John Oxton said. "It is very exciting to get a win."

The game was a physical one with banging bodies and frequent bouts of floor diving for loose balls. The game, at times, seemed more like a British rugby match of pushing and shoving than a high school basketball game.

"It seems like every year it gets more and more like college basketball," Oxton said. "It's like it's the Big Ten and we're just killing each other out there."

But the physical play didn't affect the Panthers. North put up their best defensive effort of the season, and after giving up an average of 72 points per game previously, they held Blaine to only 53 points on the night. However, like the slow start to their season, the Panthers started the game slowly on both ends of the floor.

Early on, Blaine junior guard Tanner Schumacher drained two three pointers to spark an 8 to 2 run for the Bengals. But the Panthers kept calm and responded by laying in two hoops and a jump shot to tie the game at eight.  

After a brief time in a zone defense, North changed back to man-to-man and successfully challenged Blaine's attempt to work the ball into the post.

Then the Panthers caught an offensive rhythm and took their first lead of the night halfway through the first half, forcing Blaine to call a timeout. Later, after a couple turnovers by the Bengals, North took the lead going into halftime, 30-26.

In the second half North became more aggressive offensively but were unable to take advantage of frequent free throw attempts, allowing Blaine to stay in the game.

Good defense and hustle kept the Panthers ahead for a lot of the second half.

Later on, with a minute left in regulation and with the game tied, Blaine put in a basket to go up by two. But the Panthers responded when senior Adam Petterson got the ball in the post, faked one way, went the other, and arched a soft hook over the head of a Bengal defender to tie the game, 52-52.  

Next, with 15 seconds on the clock, Blaine attempted to bring the ball down the court but was trapped in the corner immediately by Panther defenders and forced to call a timeout with eight seconds remaining in regulation.

Out of the timeout, the Bengals went back to familiar strategy and got the ball close to the basket to senior forward Zach Romashko, who stepped back and missed a fade-away jumper at the buzzer.

The game was tied 52-52 at the end of regulation, prompting a four-minute overtime period.  

In overtime, the Panthers came out hungry. Junior forward Tyler Flack and senior guard Al Erickson sank early buckets to jump out to an early lead.

Then, after a Blaine free throw cut the lead to three, the Bengals got back the ball in the half court with a chance to tie the game. But the Panthers' hustle was too much for Blaine, and they were unable to get the ball inbounds.

North then had an opportunity to put the game away but missed two critical free throws. They soon would redeem themselves, however, with junior Ryan Saarela putting in one free throw under pressure to make the lead an undefeatable four points going into the final seconds.

The win put Lakeville North at 1-6 on the season. They go to Woodbury next to take on the Royals on January 6 at 7:15 p.m.