MT. IRON— The seventh-seeded Timberwolves were facing the lion’s den on Thursday as they were set to face the Rangers on their home hardwood in the opening round of the Section 7A boys high school basketball tournament.
The second-seeded Rangers have dominated Ely this season, besting the Wolves 78-58 in Mt. Iron in January, followed by an 81-41 rout just two weeks ago in Ely.
“Our hands will be full again,” said Ely Head Coach Tom McDonald ahead of the game.
The Wolves wrapped up their regular season at 11-15 after dropping their season finale at home 61-54 to Fond du Lac. “For the most part I thought we played well against the athletic Fond du Lac team,” said McDonald. “But they shot the ball well all night and we just couldn’t do enough offensively to make a run in the second half.”
A 39-percent shooting percentage from the floor didn’t help Ely’s cause. Junior guard Cade Chittum led the Wolves in one of his best outings of the season, pouring in 24 points and grabbing ten rebounds for a double-double. Sophomore guard Jack Davies scored 19 and sophomore Drew Johnson notched 12 assists.
“As always our guys worked really hard but just didn’t have enough to get the win. We only had 12 turnovers which was a good thing for us,” said McDonald.