Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Grizzlies advance to semifinals

North Woods to face Floodwood on Wednesday

Tom Klein
Posted 2/27/15

HIBBING – North Woods cruised to the next round of the Section 7A Playoffs, crushing Bigfork, 105-41, on Thursday at the Hibbing Memorial Arena.

The Grizzlies will play Cherry, which upset …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Grizzlies advance to semifinals

North Woods to face Floodwood on Wednesday

Posted

DULUTH - North Woods overcame some jitters to put away Cherry, 65-47, in Saturday's Section 7A quarterfinals at UMD's Romano Gym.

Seniors Cole Martin and Jaylen Strong led the Grizzlies' offense with their stellar play inside and on the boards. Martin finished the game with 19 points with Strong close behind with 18. Darnell Goggleye and Scott Rutart each added nine.

Cherry was led by Cotton Herring, who dumped in 11 points. Teammate Devin Mayry contributed 10 while Lucas Clement and Ted Clement each finished with nine points.

The win on Saturday advances North Woods to Wednesday's semifinals, where they will face Floodwood at 5:45 p.m. at UMD's Romano Gym. The Grizzlies lost by narrow margins twice to the Polar Bears during the regular season, but are playing some of their best basketball in the last two weeks. Results of that game will be posted on the Timberjay's website.

Should the Grizzlies win, they will face either Fond du Lac or Mountain Iron-Buhl in the Section 7A championship game at 7 p.m. on Friday at UMD's Romano Gym.

Earlier in the week, North Woods crushed Bigfork, 105-41, on Thursday at the Hibbing Memorial Arena.

“You never know how you’re going to play in tournaments but that was a pretty good start,” said Grizzlies Head Coach Will Kleppe.

“We were a better team today than when we played them earlier in the season,” he continued. “Defensively, we played much better this time than we did the first time. We really did a nice job on the boards. We played a better overall game.”

The Grizzlies took control early, leading 30-13 about eight minutes into the game, and ending the half with a commanding 56-22 lead.

North Woods continued to dominate in the second half, with Kleppe making liberal use of his bench throughout the second half.

“I feel we’re in good physical shape,” said Kleppe. “But we gave some of our guys a rest and we didn’t give a lot when we went to the bench. They shot well, played well and stayed contained and rebounded well.” Martin led the Grizzlies with 24 points and three other North Woods players reached the double-digit mark in scoring. Darnell Goggleye added 19, including four from three-point range, while Strong was close behind with 18. Rutar added 10.

Bigfork’s leading scorer was Zeke Forseen, who finished with 15 points. Teammate Josh Lovdahl added nine.

A more complete story of the Grizzlies’ play in the Section 7A Tournament will be published in the March 6 edition of the Timberjay.

Grizzlies, North Woods, basketball