DULUTH- The North Woods boys basketball team scored a convincing road win last Friday, topping the century mark in a 102-75 beatdown.
The spotlight coming into the game was on the Hilltoppers’ 6’6” junior guard Brooks Johnson, who just the night before crossed the 2,000-point career scoring mark by dropping 50 points against Hermantown. The Grizzlies employed a gimmick defense early on to try to neutralize Johnson, but soon abandoned it in favor of their usual stingy man-to-man and had good success in creating turnovers and turning them into points. By halftime North Woods held a comfortable 61-44 lead, with the spotlight shifting to the play of the Grizzlies’ terrific trio of Jonah Burnett, Louie Panichi, and Luke Will. At the intermission, Panichi had matched Johnson point-for-point with 21, Burnett had 17 and Will had 13.
Burnett, the state’s sixth-leading scorer with 452 points and a 30.1-point scoring average according to MN Boys Basketball Hub, kept the heat on in the second stanza, dropping in 20 more as the Grizzlies steadily padded their lead against the Hilltoppers. Burnett finished with 37 points, four more than Panichi, as the Grizzlies became the first Class A team to take down Class AA Marshall this season.
“The game plan was to stop them through a junk defense on Johnson at first, but their team was ready for it and saw right through it,” North Woods Head Coach Andrew Jugovich said. “After that we went straight up man and we wanted everyone else on that team beside him to beat us, and it worked in our favor. The second half goal was to put them down and we really took it to them playing good defense, and our ball movement was incredible. We had a lot of fast breaks and you could tell that they were exhausted halfway through the first half.”
Jugovich praised the play of Burnett, Panichi, and Will, who finished with 17 points.
“Luke has really been making strides for us, especially in the paint – I believe the last five games he’s averaging 15 a game,” Jugovich said. “Louie has taken a big step up from being our fourth scorer last year to our second and he’s been good running our point. And Burnett, he’s tough – when he wants to score he’ll score at will. We’re really lucky to have those three out there because on any given night they can combine for 75 points themselves.”
Jugovich also credited the rest of the team for setting up all of the scoring opportunities with heads-up ball movement.
“Aiden (Hartway), Talen (Jarshaw), Keenan (Whitney), Evan (Kajala) and Kalvyn (Benner), they’re all moving the ball and they’re having fun. That’s what’s making our team a lot better, because when the ball is moving they’re trusting each other and no matter what they have confidence in each other.”
The Grizzlies moved to 11-4 with the win and were scheduled to be on the road Friday to take on Class AA Greenway, followed by a Monday trip to Blackduck.