FIELD TWP — The North Woods boys continue to play hard and develop as a team as they fight through a four-game losing streak, with two holiday tournament losses in Chisholm and a Monday night road loss to Fond du Lac.
North Woods opened the Chisholm tourney against South Ridge, and the Panthers took control from the outset, racing to a 14-0 lead on the strength of swarming defense and turnovers. Scoring against the taller, stronger Panthers was a big challenge for North Woods, who trailed 58-12 early in the second half. South Ridge won 81-31.
The Grizzlies played one of their best games of the season against Chisholm the next night, leading throughout most of the first half before a late Chisholm rally gave the Bluestreaks a 24-20 edge at the break. North Woods regained the lead 27-26 on an Andrew Hartway jumper early in the second half, and after falling behind, Elias Sheffer canned a trey from the top of the key to put the Grizzlies back up 38-36 with 3:30 remaining. But regulation play ended with the score tied at 42-42, forcing overtime. The Grizzlies looked to be poised for the win leading 49-47 with ten seconds to go, but a Chisholm guard worked free for a buzzer-beating three-pointer to win the game 50-49.
Game stats were not provided by press time.