FIELD TWP – The North Woods Grizzlies added a pair of victories to their growing win streak last week, a blowout 84-39 victory at home over Littlefork-Big Falls on Thursday and a thrilling come-from-behind win at Chisholm, 80-78, on Friday.
Chisholm
With the crowd looking down from above in the classic old-style gym at Chisholm, the Bluestreaks gave the home fans plenty to cheer about in the first half Friday, knocking down their first two trey attempts to take an early 8-4 lead. North Woods came back to tie it at 10-10 on a bucket by Luke Will and a pair of backcourt steals and scores by Louie Panichi. Chisholm continued to have good ball movement on the offensive end and went up 24-17 on another trey with just under 10 minutes to play in the half. Another three-ball gave the Bluestreaks their largest lead at 29-21, but the Grizzlies buckled down and got back to within three at the half, 40-37.
After Chisholm opened with a charity toss, Jonah Burnett knocked down a pair of free throws and scored an old-fashioned bucket and one three-point play to give the Grizzlies their first lead since the opening moments of the game, 42-41. After going up 50-45, the Grizzlies went for about four minutes without a score, and Chisholm retook the lead 53-50. Panichi got the Grizzlies back on track with a triple at the 9:21 mark, sparking five minutes of three-ball madness. Evan Kajala hit a long ball from the top of the key for North Woods, and Chisholm drained a pair of threes before Panichi answered in kind with two more, Chisholm popped in another for a 68-66 lead, and Panichi took the lead right back with a rainbow from five feet behind the arc to make the score 69-68. The Grizzlies wouldn’t trail again, as two baskets by Will and a free throw by Burnett put North Woods up 74-68. Chisholm hit again from three with a minute to play, shaving the Grizzlies’ lead to one, 76-75. Aidan Hartway hit a pair of free throws for North Woods for a 78-75 advantage, and Chisholm fired a couple of long-range blanks on its next possession. Burnett was fouled and stepped to the line to make a pair of charities with nine seconds left, giving the Grizzlies the cushion they needed to withstand a last second trey by Chisholm and come away with the 80-78 win.
The Bluestreaks hoisted up as many three-balls as they did two-pointers in the game, and the strategy nearly paid off, as they hit 12-of-31. But working the inside, the Grizzlies drew 15 fouls and went 17-of-22 from the free throw line, offsetting Chisholm’s edge from three-point range.
Burnett led all scorers with 26 points, followed by Panichi with 23 and Will with 16. Chisholm had four players in double figures, topped by Lawrence Oberg with 22.
“They came out shooting well,” Grizzlies Head Coach Andrew Jugovich said. “The crowd was a big factor – that was the loudest I’ve ever heard it and I grew up there. But when you live or die by the three, you come down to who wanted to work harder and who was going to finish towards the end. Being down by eight a few times throughout the game, our boys kept fighting. We got to the line a lot by going to the rim and getting their guys out of position in their zone. I’m glad we came up with the win.”
Littlefork-Big Falls
Having been pushed by Littlefork-Big Falls in a 101-89 road win on Feb. 9, the Grizzlies were ready for another tough game on Thursday, but it never materialized, as North Woods rolled to an easy 84-39 win.
The sustained ferocity of the Grizzlies’ defense quickly put to rest any notion that the Vikings could hang tough this time around. When LBF wasn’t turning the ball over, which they did 27 times in the game, North Woods was forcing them to take bad or contested shots, shots that weren’t dropping as the Vikings hit a woeful 29.4 percent from the field. Feasting on layups and a strong inside game, North Woods hit a phenomenal 66.7 percent of its two-pointers, going 28-for-42. The outcome of this one was decided well before North Woods went into the halftime locker room with an overwhelming 48-17 lead, and the Grizzlies didn’t relax their iron grip in the second half until late in the game when the reserves were on the floor.
Burnett continued piling up the points, dropping in 27 on the night. Panichi scored 23, and Kajala hit for 10.
Adding Monday night’s 71-53 win over Ely to the mix, the Grizzlies haven’t lost since their Jan. 22 defeat by Class A No. 1 Cherry, a winning streak now at 11 games. The Grizzlies hope to extend the streak to 12 and move their overall record to 22-4 when they host Deer River for the regular season finale on Friday. The Warriors are riding a ten-game winning streak, have a 19-5 record, and trail North Woods in the battle for a No. 3 seed in next week’s Section 7A tournament.