ELY— Absolute blowout. Those are the only words to describe Ely’s home opener here on Monday as the Timberwolves destroyed Floodwood 87-13, having led 65-0 at one point in the contest.
“They were missing a couple of starters,” noted Ely Head Coach Tom McDonald in an attempt to explain the extraordinary mismatch. “They really struggled on both ends of the floor.”
For Ely, it was a chance to rack up some impressive stats. “Everyone saw a lot of action for us,” said McDonald.
Junior Caid Chittum was on fire in the first half as he poured in 21 points and notched six rebounds before sitting out much of the rest of the game as Ely gave younger players some time on the court.
Ely sophomore Drew Johnson added 14 points for Ely while junior Trenton Bishop and sophomore Jack Davies added ten points apiece. Freshman Leo McKrahl led the way on the boards, with 11 rebounds while freshman Wyatt Tedrick led in steals with eight.
Monday’s rout came on the heels of a much closer contest in Ely’s season opener at Hill City. Chittum, again, led the way for the Wolves with 16 points, eight boards and four assists as Ely edged the Hornets 61-57. “For the first game of the season I thought we played pretty well against a decent team,” said McDonald. “They had most everyone back from last year’s team and they have an aggressive inside player that gave us some problems as we don’t have much size.”
The game was tight throughout and Hill City led for a time in the second half before Ely rallied for the win. “We didn’t shoot the ball well all night but we did enough offensively to get the game won,” said McDonald, who said Ely’s defense was inconsistent as well at times.
While Chittum led the way, Johnson had a solid night for Ely, notching 14 points and six boards along with four assists. Davies added 12 points and four assists to the effort.
“I thought Wyatt Mattson did an excellent job on their big kid all night but he fouled out in the second half,” said McDonald.
The Wolves, now 2-0, were set to travel to International Falls on Thursday.