Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Rising to the challenge

North Woods topples MIB again to remain undefeated

Patrick Slack
Posted 1/18/17

MOUNTAIN IRON - A mere two weeks after a wire-to-wire thriller ended with a last-second North Woods win, the Grizzlies squared off once again with rival Mountain Iron-Buhl on Friday.

As in the …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Rising to the challenge

North Woods topples MIB again to remain undefeated

Posted

MOUNTAIN IRON - A mere two weeks after a wire-to-wire thriller ended with a last-second North Woods win, the Grizzlies squared off once again with rival Mountain Iron-Buhl on Friday.

As in the first encounter, it was North Woods finding a way to come out on top with strong defense, prevailing with a 66-55 road win to move to 12-0 on the season.

“The team talks every practice about the priority of meeting our defensive goals and this team believes that if we can limit our opponents’ opportunities we will give ourselves a chance to win,” North Woods head coach Will Kleppe said. “Our second meeting with MIB we refocused on defense and it paid off.”

That was more of the same from the second half of the previous meeting, when the Grizzlies were able to clamp down in the final minutes to earn a 77-76 win.

“The first game we were very fortunate to win a shootout with them considering the offensive weapons they have in Jaylen and Justin Holmes,” Kleppe said. “The second half of our last matchup was more keyed on our defensive effort, which is where our concern needed to be. MIB has the No. 1 scoring average in the state in Class A boys basketball (83 points per game), so to hold them to 55 at their gym should help our defensive confidence.”

Cade Goggleye shot 8-of-15 from the field to finish with a team-high 21 points for the Grizzlies, with Tate Olson scoring 14 points and distributing six assists.

Double-doubles were turned in by Chase Kleppe and George Bibeau, with Kleppe recording 12 points and 14 rebounds and Bibeau posting 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Grizzlies also sailed to a 90-51 home win over Hill City on Tuesday.