FIELD TWP- A questionable no-call on a potential foul against North Wood’s Louie Panichi as he scored on a putback shot at the buzzer gave Deer River a big 78-77 upset road win over the Grizzlies on Friday.
The Grizzlies had come back from nine points down in the second half to take the lead  on a Luke Will steal and score with 45 seconds remaining, but the Warriors’ Cale Jackson nailed four free throws to put Deer River up 78-75 with nine seconds left. Talen Jarshaw shook loose from his defender and got a step-back three-point shot that would’ve tied the game, but the shot bounced off the front of the rim and off the backboard. Panichi got the rebound and hit the follow, but didn’t get the foul call from a nearby official, much to the disbelief of the Grizzlies’ fans.
The wild finish topped off a heated battle that was the latest edition in what’s become an intense rivalry between Deer River and North Woods. The Grizzlies held the upper hand at the outset, with three-balls by Panichi and Jarshaw giving North Woods a 13-9 advantage. But Deer River put together a 7-0 run to tie it at 16-16. North Woods went back up by seven at 27-20 on a deep corner trey by Jonah Burnett, and a buzzer-beating three by Deer River’s Caiden Schjenken sent the teams into halftime with the Grizzlies up 41-35.
The Grizzlies had been relatively effective in the first half stopping Schjenken, the Warriors’ leading scorer, who had nine points in the period. But the Deer River junior guard began the second half the way he ended the first, with a triple, and he followed with another on the next possession to pull the Warriors into a 49-49 tie with 13 minutes remaining. Those shots were part of a 15-0 Deer River run that put the Warriors up 58-49.
North Woods was within six with three minutes to go when they turned to threes to narrow the gap. Luke Will hit a triple and Jonah Burnett hit threes on consecutive possessions as the Warriors countered with a pair of twos, shaving the Deer River lead to 74-73 and setting up the madcap last minute finish that started with Will’s steal.
Turnovers were a game-changer in this one, as the Grizzlies gave the ball up five more times than the Warriors, and Deer River capitalized on those miscues for four more points than the Grizzlies got from turnovers.
Burnett led all scorers with 31 points for the game, and remains high on the MN Boys Basketball Hub list of the state’s top scorers, sitting sixth. Will scored 16 and Panichi had 12. For Deer River, Schjenken upped his game in the second stanza to finish with 28, one of three Warriors in double figures.
The loss was a costly one for North Woods when looking at postseason play. With the win Deer River edged past the Grizzlies for the No. 3 seed in the Section 7A tourney, dropping the Grizzlies to No. 4 and a more difficult path to navigate. If the Grizzlies get past fifth-seeded Chisholm in their first game, they’ll have to take on Class A No. 1 Cherry in the second one.
“They played physical and they didn’t want to call the physicality,” said Grizzlies Head Coach Andrew Jugovich. “But that was both ways, so give Deer River props. It was pretty even both ways, and I’m not going to complain about that. That last no call I will be upset about.”
“We knew it was going to be their No. 3 and No. 4 (players), and Aidan (Hartway) did a great job on No. 4 and Jonah played great on Caiden, but he made the shots that counted in the second half, lights out from deep. We had a couple of lapses on fast breaks where they were just not accounted for, but that’s the name of the game. The boys played their hearts out – every one of them gave it everything they had. It just didn’t fall our way tonight, which hurts the boys seeding wise, but we’ll make it work.”
North Woods finished the regular season with a record of 21-5. Their first sectional tournament game was scheduled for Thursday at home against Chisholm. A victory would send the Grizzlies to Hibbing on Saturday to take on No. 1 seed Cherry.