ELY— The Timberwolves had to shoot well to get the better of the Ojibwe in both teams’ regular season finale here last Friday. Fond du Lac (7-16) has played its best hoops while on the road all season and last week’s game was no exception as they kept the game in reach until the end, falling 81-67.
“We played well and shot the ball well against a good Fond du Lac team,” said Ely Head Coach Tom McDonald. Junior guard Joey Bianco, as he has almost all season, led the hit parade for Ely, with 26 points, 11 assists, and 8 rebounds, narrowly missing a triple-double. Eighth-grader Jack Davies connected on six treys enroute to 19 points, while senior Harry Simons added 17 points. Junior forward Erron Anderson added ten boards while classmate Jason Kerntz grabbed seven.
With last Friday’s win, the Wolves improved their season record to 15-11, but that wasn’t enough to earn a home berth in the opening round of the Section 7A playoffs, which were set to get underway on Thursday, March 10.
Instead, the tenth-seeded Wolves will be on the road to take on seventh-seeded Northland-Remer, which finished their regular season at 20-6.
It will be the first meeting between the two teams in recent memory, so it isn’t clear how they’ll match up. “They have two sets of athletic twins who can shoot the ball and defend pretty well,” said McDonald. “They aren’t overly big so that could be to our advantage,” he added. “We will have to defend them and hit some shots. We will also need to take care of the basketball or we will be in trouble trying to beat them on their home court.”