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Gator Boys’ Basketball: Offense predicated on defense By: Ryan BergeronOffensively, Gator Head Boys’ Basketball Coach Kent Christian envisions his team getting out in transition some, but instead relying more on kick outs and penetration layups. Since his team isn’t very big, he doesn’t see it being a group that will look in at the post and work the ball inside, but instead one that will rely more on the three-point shot. “Our offense is definitely going to be predicated on our defense,” Coach Christian said, later adding, “… We’re more like the Sean McVay (style of offense), the little trick plays here and there.” For those unfamiliar with the comparison, McVay, Head Coach of the National Football League (NFL) team, the Los Angeles Rams, has become known as an offensive guru, according to a article by Marcus Mosher titled “Logic, simplicity make Los Angeles Rams’ Sean McVay NFL’s brightest offensive mind.”Despite losing a number of seniors to graduation, the Gators return some experienced players from last season and will have many players jockeying for varsity minutes this season and the chance to be part of this “McVay” style of offense. Going back to last season, the Gators lost six seniors to graduation, in Brandon Sorenson, Dillon Nieman, Tanner Foss, Shaun Waage, Travis Gustafson, and Justin Bollinger. As a group, this senior class is one that Coach Christian will miss, having players who improved their games in their final seasons.“Sometimes you have those kids that they go into their senior year and they don’t pan out the way you thought they would or they didn’t play as well as you hoped; they got 10,000 things going on,” Coach Christian said. “But our seniors (last season) stepped it up.”Despite his team finishing last season with a below .500 record, Coach Christian considered it a “fun” one, seeing many young guys playing alongside those seniors and the team making strides. “We were much better at the end of the year then we were at the beginning. We started to build some confidence, got some big wins throughout the year,” Coach Christian said. “When you’re playing some of those younger kids, it can be tough, but again our senior leadership really helped out… All in all, I thought it was a pretty good year.” The Gators return a number of these “younger guys” with experience to this season’s team. Four seniors will lead this season’s team, including: Jake Taggart, Dylan Heggedal, Breydon Bertilrud and Kamrin Weets, each offering something unique.Taggart will give some offensive punch to the Gators and the ability to distribute the ball. From Heggedal, the Gators will need rebounds.“He (Heggedal) worked really hard in the offseason on his strength, “ Coach Christian said, “so I think that’s going to be a benefit. And (we) need him to hit some outside shots.”Bertilrud provides some length, in the form of long arms, but Coach Christian looks for him to improve his physicality, having the ability to give the Gators an inside presence. Weets has the ability to provide strong rebounding and has a “nice outside shot.”As for underclassmen, the team will have many competing for minutes, as Coach Christian said “all of them” at one point. The underclassmen he mentioned included: juniors Gage Creekmore and Kaden Opdahl, sophomores Adam Benke, Kasen Swenson and Aaron Westling, freshmen Kobey Dallager and Jaden Kostrzewski, and eighth grader Zach Blawat, Speaking of competing for varsity time, last season, the Gators struggled to cement that fifth varsity starter, creating a “revolving door” type of situation. Does Coach Christian see that as a problem this season?“We have a lot of guys that can play, so there’s definitely competition for all spots, which is a good thing, but we need to find guys that are consistent,” Coach Christian said. “And like I told them the other day, there was a couple of them, I said (to them), ‘Well, if I could put you together with him, we’d have a complete player.’”Players need to spend less time working on their strengths, Coach Christian explained, and more on the areas they need to improve on. The Gator Head Coach emphasized settling in on a starting lineup early on this season, particularly that fifth starter, to avoid this issue that hurt the team last season. From this fifth starter, he needs to see multiple attributes: “effort, taking care of the ball, rebounding, and some competency offensively.” One already knows what to possibly expect from the Gators on the offensive end. But, what should people expect on the defensive end? Defensively, in the past, Coach Christian has promoted his teams to play man-to-man, but says this season’s team enjoys playing zone, so he may have to “bite the bullet” some in this case. Regardless of the style of play or the players out on the court, Coach Christian looks forward to leading this team-- one with many “gym rats”-- for multiple reasons, ones similar to those of previous seasons.“I’m really looking to see how they grow and come together,” Coach Christian said. “That’s really the challenge at the high school (level and) probably any coaching, is how much does your team come together, play well together. And I think win or lose, if they do that, they ultimately enjoy the season.”In all, the Gators have 25 student-athletes out this season in seventh to twelfth grade. Under Christian, this year’s coaching staff includes: Jordan Creviston (JV), Jakob Heggedal (C-Team), and, new to the staff, Allen Stauffenecker (Seventh and Eighth Grade). These three coaches are all former Gator players of Christian. “(They’re) a great coaching staff, very committed. They love to be around kids,” Coach Christian said.As for a successful season, Coach Christian defines it in ways beyond just wins and losses and beyond the game itself.He said, “(A successful season is) growth athletically (and in the) knowledge of the game, coming together as a team, and individually, just maturing into good, young men.”One will get to see not only how these Gator players come together as a group, but also how their Sean McVay type offensive style comes together with their defense on the court in this 2018-19 season. Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.)Gators fend off Freeze rally in season opener By: Ryan BergeronThe Gators and Freeze battled one another in a Section 8A basketball match up to open their respective 2018-19 seasons in Karlstad on November 30. Behind a fast-paced offensive effort in the first half, the Gators jumped out to a 45-31 halftime lead. The Freeze would rally late, cutting the Gator lead to as few as seven points, but the Gators made some free throws to pull away with the 73-58 victory.Throughout much of the first half, both teams traded punches, tied at 23 with just over 6:30 left in the first half. Then, the Gators grabbed the lead and took control of the game behind a 10-0 run. Jake Taggart started the run with a successful two and one, Gage Creekmore followed with a three-pointer, and then Kobey Dallager grabbed an offensive rebound and made a layup, forcing a Freeze timeout.Out of the timeout, the Gators finished the run with a Creekmore layup, putting the Freeze in a 33-23 deficit with 5:25 left in the game. The Gators would extend that lead to as many as 17 points in the first half. Asked about his team’s late first half push, Gator Head Coach Kent Christian pointed right away to the word “effort.”“(We) got out and ran the floor a bit, took control of the game, but really it was effort and playing together,” Coach Christian said.Meanwhile, Freeze Head Coach Zach Green said his team took many poor shots and allowed the Gators to get to the free throw line frequently in that first half. The Gators didn’t commit its first foul of the game until 10:21 remaining in the first half. “They got a lot of easy looks from the free throw line and created a lot of turnovers off their press,” Coach Green said. “And I thought (they) just ran their offense a little bit better than we did and I think that kind of gave them the edge going into halftime.”The Gators’ Gage Creekmore finished with 12 points, most of those points coming during that late Gator first half run. He fell one rebound shy of a double-double performance, blocked two shots and came up with three steals. “When he (Creekmore) plays (with) energy and plays with quickness, he’s one of the best athletes we have,” Coach Christian said. “It’s just a question (of) if we can get him to do that all the time and get him to realize that he can be a solid player.”Early in the second half, the Gators added on to its lead, building it to as many as 19 points, at 57-38, with 11:13 left in the game after back-to-back Taggart layups. Seven seconds later, the Freeze took a timeout. Out of this timeout, the Freeze made its move, going on a 9-0 run. The run started with a Keaton Klegstad three pointer. Gunner Koland then made back-to-back jumpers and then a layup, showing some emotion and clapping his hands after this layup that drew the Freeze to within 10 points, at 57-47, and forced a Gator timeout with just under 8:30 left in the game. Coach Green enjoyed seeing this type of play and emotion from Koland, who finished with 10 points. “That’s kind of what I’ve been dying to see out of that kid. We’ve been saying, ‘Hey, get after it, shoot the ball more.’ He’s got a great mid-range shot and plus he can take it to the rim. And I thought he settled a little in the first half,” Coach Green said. “… It was nice to see that he played with some emotion. He kind of showed like he wanted to win that game and yeah it was really fun to see him show a little extra effort.”Later, a Kolland layup would cut the Freeze deficit to seven, at 58-65, with 2:17 remaining, but the Freeze would get no closer.Asked about his team’s late second half performance, Coach Green complimented its play on both ends.“The guys finally dug in and played some good defensive possessions, blocked out, and then I mean for us, it was a matter of we took some quality shots,” Coach Green said. “… During that stretch, we got some steals and rebounds and we just started attacking the rim and getting some easy buckets, where before we were settling for long three pointers.”Meanwhile Coach Christian said his team did the opposite, taking some careless shots and many three pointers. As a team, the Gators shot just 1 of 17 from three-point range, compared to the Freeze 7 of 25 performance from three-point range.“Defensively, it was pretty good (during that late Freeze run). We had a couple breakdowns, but give the Freeze credit,” Coach Christian said. “They’re not going to give up. Coach Green does a great job with them and it was a solid basketball game.”After the Freeze closed to within seven, the Gators would end the game on an 8-0 run, six of those points coming at the free throw line. Taggart would make five of those free throws to seal the Gator victory, as part of his game-high 22 points.For the game, Taggart made 12 of 15 free throws (80%). As a team, the Gators made 23 of 31 (74%) of its free throws. The Freeze finished 11 of 24 (46%) from the free throw line. As for other top Gator performers, Dylan Heggedal finished with 10 points and fell one rebound shy of a double-double performance, and Kaden Opdahl chipped in 10 points.As for the Freeze, the Spilde brothers combined for 24 points, including a team-high 14 from Jackson and 10 from Jaacks. Next Action: After hitting the road to play the Fertile-Beltrami Falcons on December 4, the Gators hosts its home opener versus the Red Lake County Rebels on Friday, December 7. The Gators remains home the following week to face the Warroad Warriors on Tuesday, December 11.Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.)GATORS USE STRONG FIRST HALF TO SHOT DOWN FALCONS New to the regular season schedule this year was a game against the Fertile-Beltrami Falcons. If Tuesday night’s matchup was an indication of things to come in the future the BGMR Gator Boys Basketball Team will happily travel to Fertile. The Gators used a convincing first half to jump out to a 44-23 halftime lead and never looked back as the Gators brought home a 78-59 win. Strong defense and solid rebounding propelled the Gators to the first half lead. BGMR would also shoot 46% from the field for the night and almost everything seemed to go the Gators way. Dylan Heggedal had a strong performance as Heggedal scored a career high 21 points and just missed the double/double with 9 rebounds. Adam Benke would put in 14 points for the Gators and Jake Taggart dumped in 12 along 4 assists. Despite foul trouble Kaden Opdahl scored 9 points and Kobey Dallager just missed a double/double with 9 points and 11 rebounds. The Gators will now turn their attention to Friday nights home opener against the Rebels from Red Lake County. The Rebels are led by longtime coach Steve Philion. Philion is a czar of the hardwood and always has his team ready. It should be an interesting home opener for the Gators that pits two evenly matched teams. The Gator parents will be sponsoring a taco in a bag supper. They will be serving from 5-7 with the proceeds going to the basketball program. Cost is $5.00. Come on out, grab a bite to eat and catch the Gator boys in action.Gators rides hot three-point hands, improves to 3-0By: Ryan BergeronGoing into this season, Coach Christian said his Gator team would have to shoot well from three-point range. It would do just that in its home opener versus the Red Lake County Rebels on December 7.Gator senior Dylan Heggedal found the hot hands from three-point range early, sinking two three-pointers just over three minutes into the game. Gator teammates Adam Benke added a three-pointer and Kobey Dallager a fast break layup to give the Gators a 13-2 lead, forcing a Red Lake County Rebels timeout with just over 12 minutes remaining in the first half.Behind a strong shooting night from all distances, the Gators pulled away early in the second half for the wire-to-wire 79-44 victory over the Rebels.“The ball went through the hoop,” Gator Head Coach Kent Christian said about his team’s three-point shooting. “I told them they’re good shooters. They just have to confidence in it and again they shot the ball well tonight.”The Gators made 11 of its 25 (44 percent) three-point attempts. Three players contributed to the three-point cause, including: Gage Creekmore (4 of 5), Heggedal (4 of 6) and Benke (3 of 5). Back-to-back three pointers, courtesy of Creekmore and Heggedal, would give the Gators a 30-14 edge, its largest lead of the first half, with 5:21 remaining before halftime. The Rebels would close the half on a 10-4 run to cut the Gator halftime lead to 34-24.The Rebels’ Eric Gieseke would open the second half scoring with a three-pointer to cut the Gator advantage to seven at 34-27. The Gators would respond and the Rebels would get no closer.A 13-2 Gator run, led by two three-pointers from Benke and one from Creekmore, would force two Rebel timeouts and give the Gators a 47-29 lead with just over 11 minutes to go.The Gators would push its lead to over 20 with 9:08 left in the game and to as many as 36 points in the closing minutes.On the defensive end, the Gators held the Rebels to just over 25 percent shooting for the game. Also, with just over six minutes left in the game, Rebels’ center Isiah Olson would get called for a technical foul. “I think the game got pretty physical both ways. We kept our composure pretty good and things just weren’t going their (the Rebels) way,” Coach Christian said. “Obviously, we had the lead, so I think they were a little bit upset. But I think defensively, we just surrounded their posts, which we’re going to have to do.”The Gators shot over 46 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Rebels by a 39-25 margin.Creekmore led the Gators with 21 points and 6 rebounds. Heggedal chipped in 20 points and 5 rebounds, and Benke 13 points, respectively, for the Gators. Olson and Derek Peterson led the Rebels with 12 points each. With the win, the Gators improved to 3-0. Asked about his team’s start to the season, Coach Christian mentioned some areas where his team could improve, including help defense, one-on-one defense and rebounding. He also mentioned what he has appreciated about his team’s play to start the season. “Our team basketball. That’s what I’ve liked most,” Coach Christian said. “(We’re) playing together; it’s a different guy (contributing).”Next Action: After hosting the Warroad Warriors on December 11, the Gators travels to Thief River Falls to play in the annual Holiday Boys’ Basketball Tournament at Northland Community and Technical College, December 18, 20 and 21.Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.) Gators hold off Warriors, improve to 4-0By: Ryan BergeronThe Gator Boys’ Basketball team led 31-14 after Adam Benke completed a successful two and one opportunity with 4:56 left in the first half of the Gators’ home game versus the Warroad Warriors. The Warriors would respond, finishing the half on a 15-2 run. The Gators led 33-31 at halftime. Asked about his halftime message to his team, Gator Head Coach Kent Christian pointed out to his players how they built that lead-- by playing together. This Gator lead shrunk when it started playing as “individuals and not playing smart,” Coach Christian said, adding how he believed his team knew this.The Gators would trail 37-38 following a Warrior three-pointer with just under 15:30 minutes left in the game. The home team would retake the lead and never trail again, holding off a late Warrior push to win 69-63 on December 11. “Coming out of halftime I thought we played with a lot of intensity, a lot of focus,” Coach Christian said. “Give Warroad credit. I mean they got some really talented players and our guys just hung in there and battled and hit some big shots.”Following that Warroad three-pointer that put the home team behind, the Gators responded with 14-5 run, capped by three unanswered layups-- the first two from Gage Creekmore and the last one from Kobey Dallager-- to give the Gators a 51-43 edge with 10:12 left in the game.Speaking of Dallager-- a freshman-- he would score 10 straight Gator points at one point in the second half. During a portion of this spurt, Dallager would grabbed an offensive rebound and score two, and just over 30 seconds later followed it up with a made three-pointer in rhythm, giving the Gators a 61-53 lead with 5:29 left in the game. Gator Nation expressed its appreciation with some of its loudest cheers of the night and nine seconds later Warroad called a timeout. Dallager finished the game with 18 points and team highs of seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks.“I thought Dallager did a heck of job down the stretch on the offensive glass,” Coach Christian said. “(He) probably took a couple of shots that he shouldn’t have, but all in all not too bad.” Out of this timeout, the Warriors would close to within three on a 5-0 spurt, capped by a Jeremy Cole three-pointer with 1:12 left in the game, cutting the Gator edge to 61-58. The Gators wouldn’t allow the margin to shrink any lower.The teams exchanged two-point baskets, including one by Dallager, and senior Jake Taggart iced the game with four straight free throws. Taggart led the Gators with 23 points. He had a three for four night from three-point range and a six for eight night from the free throw line. Gage Creekmore also hit double figures for the Gators with 11 points and also had a team-high two blocks. For the Warriors, Tyler Fox led the team with 21 points and Issac Falk-Stoskopf chipped in 18 points and 12 rebounds, respectively.With the win, the Gators remained undefeated at 4-0. Asked what more he would like to see out of his team this season, Coach Christian pointed to consistency. “I think we’re playing pretty well,” Coach Christian said. “We have some untimely turnovers. And, can we put together that full game? Tonight, again (it) was kind of a tale of spurts.”Next Action: The Gators travel to Thief River Falls to participate in the annual Holiday Boys’ Basketball Tournament at Northland Community and Technical College, December 18, 20 and 21. The Gators would open the tournament on December 18 versus the Goodridge/Grygla-Gatzke Chargers. Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.) Unbeaten Gators sharing the shotsBy?Greg DeVillers?on Dec 16, 2018 at 9:37 a.m.GREENBUSH, Minn.—Jake Taggart has been the early-season scoring leader for Badger-Greenbush-Middle River. The Gators, however, aren't reliant on any one or two players for big point production.When Taggart managed only two points in a game last week, the Gators still had a season-high 79 points in a win against Red Lake County."We've had really good balance,'' B-G-MR boys high school basketball coach Kent Christian said. "We've had different guys step up every night."Some of these guys have played a lot of varsity ball. A lot of them played on our JV team that had only one loss last year. The key for this group has always been balance.''The Gators are 4-0 with a spread-the-wealth offense. They average 74.3 points a game and have been consistent, scoring 67 or more points in each game. That balance shows in that:? Six players—Taggart, Dylan Heggedal, Adam Benke, Kobey Dallager, Gage Creekmore and Aaron Westling—already have had double-figure scoring games;? Three players—Taggart, Heggedal and Creekmore— have had game-high point totals in those four games. Each of those three have had at least one 20-point game, while Benke has a season-high 18 and Dallager 16.The balance is an ideal situation for Taggart, the B-G-MR point guard."It's great, knowing anyone on the court can hit a shot,'' the senior said. "In any situation, I have faith in everybody."I watch everyone in warmups. Usually you can tell who is on or off, who has a feel for it that night. Or sometimes it comes in spurts, a guy who is knocking down shots in games. (The balance) definitely makes it easier for me.''Taggart's 15.8 scoring average leads the team. That's followed by Heggedal (13.5), Creekmore (12.3), Dallager (11.0) and Benke (9.5).Points have come from all directions.Christian said Taggart and Benke are good perimeter shooters with the ability to slash to the basket. Heggedal is an inside-outside threat. Dallager is strong around the basket, particularly on the offensive boards. Creekmore is strong in the transition game.The team has made 25 treys and is shooting 43 percent from the field, an improvement from recent seasons. "We've been shooting better, and your offense is only as good as your shooting,'' Christian said.In his 16 seasons as the Gators' head coach, Christian has had high-scoring players such as Zach Creviston and Adam Telander. He prefers the balance."I told the kids at the beginning of the year that it would be great to have five, six kids consistently in double figures,'' Christian said."If you have one or two big scorers, they can usually be shut down some at the high school level. When you have 5-6 guys who can score, it's more difficult to defend.''While several Gators have shown the ability to have big-scoring games, that hasn't been a priority. Taggart hasn't seen anybody asking for more scoring opportunities."The thing I like is, with our team, it doesn't matter to anybody who is taking the shots as long we're up on the scoreboard,' Taggart said.STRONG START PROPELS GATORS Using strong defense and consistent scoring the BGMR Gators Boys Basketball Team opened up play in the NCTC Holiday Classic with a 65-40 win over the Grygla-Goodridge Chargers. BGMR was able to limit the Charges to only 3 points in the first eight minutes of the game and opened up a 22-3 lead. The Gators continued to be efficient on offense and went into halftime with a 38-23 lead. The second half would be much the same as the Gators again clamped down on defense. BGMR limited the Chargers to 25% shooting on the night. Offensively BGMR struggled a bit in the second half as they shot only 29% while ending up shooting 37% for the game. Balanced scoring has been a trait of the Gators so far this season and Tuesday was no different. The Gators landed 4 individuals with double digits in scoring. Dylan Heggedal led the way with 14 points and also ripped down 8 rebounds. Kaden Opdahl scored 13 points and also ripped down 8 rebounds. Jake Taggart netted 10 points. Kobey Dallager scored 10 points and completed the double/double with 13 rebounds. BGMR will continue play at the NCTC Holiday Classic on Thursday when they face Fertile-Beltrami. Fertile-Beltrami will be looking to avenge an earlier season loss to the Gators. The Gators will finish up their pre-holiday break schedule on Friday when they will take on the number three ranked team in state Class A, Cass Lake-Bena.GATORS FALL TO FALCONS Shooting the ball extremely well in the first half and leading by 5 with just over two minutes to play the BGMR Gator Boys Basketball Team looked as if they were going to notch their sixth win of the season. The Fertile-Beltrami Falcons however had other ideas and capitalized on Gator miscues down the stretch to defeat the Gators 82-76. The Gators used a strong shooting first half to take a 40-31 halftime lead. This would continue for much of the second half until the Falcons starting warming up with just under 5 minutes to play and the Gator defense became non-existent. The Falcons rode the hot hand of Andrew Wadsworth as he dumped in 26 points while going 5 for 10 from three-point land. Nolan Pinske also hurt the Gators with 22 points. The Gators were led in scoring by Jake Taggart who had 17. The Gators again showed good balance as Dylan Heggedal scored 14 points and had 8 rebounds. Heggedal did this despite not seeing much of the ball from the five minute mark on down. Gage Creekmore and Kobey Dallager each netted 11 and Adam Benke and Kaden Opdahl each contributed 9. The Gators will finish up their pre-holiday portion of their schedule when they travel back to NCTC tonight. The Gators will take on #3 ranked Cass Lake-Bena. Both teams like to get up and down the court and the Panthers are notorious for their long range shooting. It should be an entertaining game. The Gator J.V. will play at 6:30 with the varsity to follow.PANTHERS DESTROY GATORS The Cass Lake-Bena Panthers showed why they are ranked in the top three in Minnesota Class A Basketball as the Panthers used a 41% shooting night from behind the three point line and raced to a 85-53 victory over the BGMR Gators in high school boys basketball. The Panthers jumped on the Gators early and went into halftime with a 53-30 lead. BGMR was unable to mount any serious threat to the Panthers and had no answer for the Panthers Jarell Jacobs. Jacobs torched the Gators for 40 points as he shot 70% from the field which included 8 three pointers. Ethan Brown also landed in double figures for the Panthers as he netted 16. Dylan Heggedal led the Gators in scoring with 12 however Heggedal had a bit of an off night shooting as he was 4 for 13 from the field. Kaden Opdahl continue his strong play as he scored 10 and Kobey Dallager also dumped in 10. The Panthers are considered the favorites in Section 8A and the Gators have aways to go in order to be able to compete with them. There is however time as the Gators now go into the holiday break with a 5-2 record. BGMR will take a few days off and will be back in action on December 28th when they host the Ponies from Warren-Alvarado-Oslo. The Ponies have struggled a bit this year but Coach Todd Mortimer does an outstanding job and always has his team ready to play.Gators race past PoniesBy: Ryan BergeronComing off two straight losses at the NCTC Holiday Classic-- the first losses of its season-- the Gator Boys’ Basketball team returned home and responded in a big way with a 74-31 victory over the Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Ponies on December 28.In the victory, the Gators excelled on both ends of the floor, racing out to a 41-13 halftime lead. For the game, the Gators shot over 46 percent from the floor and held the Ponies to just under 21 percent shooting overall. Gator Head Coach Christian was pleased with his team’s performance, but also empathized with the Ponies’ offensive struggles. “They’re (the Ponies) a young team. I think (Ponies Head) Coach (Todd) Mortimer does a really, really good job with them,” Coach Christian said. “It’s tough when you struggle to score; we’ve been there, but our guys, they played pretty well.”After racing out to the 28-point halftime lead, the Gators would add on, building the lead to 40 late in the second half. In that second half, Taggart would lead the way, scoring nine of his 12 points in this half. The Ponies had opened the half on a 7-2 run that cut the Gator advantage to 23, at 43-20, but the Ponies wouldn’t get any closer thanks to a 25-5 Gator run. Taggart would ignite this Gator run, scoring his team’s first seven points of the run--the last three coming on a successful two and one opportunity-- to give the Gators a 50-21 lead with 13:01 remaining.“He’s (Taggart’s) been a competitor, has, for the most part, shown really good leadership (this season),” Coach Christian said. “I think when we made our big run in the second half, he was out on the floor with four guys that came off the bench and they did an outstanding job.”For the game, nine different Gator players scored at least two points. Besides Taggart, three other Gators hit double figures. Dylan Heggedal led the way with 14 points, including a 10 of 13 performance at the free throw line. Kasen Swenson scored 12 points and Gage Creekmore 10, respectively, for the Gators. Brandon Miller led the Ponies with nine points, respectively. Next Action: The Gators host the Roseau Rams on January 3. Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.)Gators fall in OT thriller to RamsBy: Ryan BergeronGator senior Jake Taggart’s driving layup rolled around and out of the basket with just over 20 seconds left in overtime of a 71-71 boys’ basketball game versus the Roseau Rams. The Gators had their chance to take the lead, but missed it, and the Rams would now get their chance.Dribbling the ball past midcourt, the Rams took a timeout with 16 seconds left. In the waning seconds, the Rams’ Eric Hoffer drove the ball toward the basket, finding an opening in the Gator defense, and shot a layup. His shot went in with three seconds. Out of the timeout, Taggart’s last second shot from just beyond the three-point line fell short. The Gators lost a thriller in the Swamp by a 73-71 final score on January 3.“He’s (Hoffer’s) a good dribble drive (player),” Gator Head Coach Kent Christian said about that final Rams’ scoring play. “We didn’t (bring) help (defense) soon enough, but they did have a shooter out on the corner and Hoffer knows how to finish. It was just a good play on his part.”Before this game-winning shot, the Gators held the lead for most of the game. Following a Taggart three-point shot that gave the Gators a 7-4 edge with 15:54 left in the first half, the Gators didn’t trail until a Jeremiah Bender three-pointer put the Gators in a 47-46 deficit with 8:49 left in the game. The Gators jumped out to a double-digit first half lead behind strong three-point shooting. Taggart and Dylan Heggedal made six three-pointers between them to open the half, accounting for 18 of the Gators’ first 20 points. A Taggart step back three-pointer and a Heggedal three-pointer capped a 7-0 Gator run, leading to loud cheers from the Gator faithful and forcing a Rams timeout with the Gators leading 20-7 with 12:34 left before halftime. A 14-3 Rams’ run cut the Gator lead to 23-21 with just over six minutes left in the half. The Gators responded with a 13-4 run to end the half, including a Heggedal fast break layup off a turnover that grew the Gator lead back to double digits, at 35-25, with 2:47 before halftime. The Gators went into the half with a 36-25 lead. After the Rams took that 47-46 lead in the second half, both teams went back and forth until a 5-1 Gator run, fueled by a Gage Creekmore corner three-pointer and Heggedal two gave the Gators a 60-54 edge with 3:25 left in the game. A 6-0 Rams run tied the game at 60-60 with 2:10 left, setting up the dramatic finish. With the Gators leading 65-63, the Rams took a timeout with 13 seconds left in regulation. On the possession, the Rams’ Jack Hirst would shoot and miss, but force a foul on Heggedal, fouling out of the game with four seconds left. Immediately following this foul call, the Gator coaching staff asked the referees for a traveling call on the play, but didn’t get it. With Gator fans standing and yelling in distraction, Hirst sunk the first free throw. The Gators then took a timeout, and out of it, Hirst sunk his second free throw-- despite screams from the Gator student section-- to eventually send the game to overtime.“Typical Swamp, right? This is the way we love it,” Christian said about the game atmosphere. “Our guys really feed off of it; it’s a lot of fun. (I) love this home court and again (it was) a great atmosphere.” Offensively, Taggart and Heggedal led the Gators with 19 points. Taggart also posted a double-double with 11 rebounds and came three assists shy of a triple-double. As a team, the Gators shot just under 39 percent from the floor.Nathan O’ Connor led the Rams with 16 points. Bender scored 13 points and Jacob Lindemann 11 points, respectively, for the Rams. Despite the loss, Coach Christian was happy with his team’s effort.“There was great effort,” Christian said, “and if we continue to make that effort throughout the year, I really don’t care what our record is at the end of the year.” Next Action: After hitting the road to face the Stephen-Argyle Central Storm on January 8, the Gators hit the road again, this time to Glyndon for two games-- first versus the Barnesville Trojans on Friday, January 11 and then the Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Rebels on Saturday, January 12. The Gators return home the following week to face the Kittson County Central Bearcats on Tuesday, January 15. Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.)GATORS ROUTE STORM Having not won at Stephen’s Kimbell Auditorium in over 16 years the BGMR Gators managed to break their winless streak in Stephen a big way as the Gators came home with a 70-39 victory over the Storm. After falling behind 2-0 and a quick timeout by the Gators, BGMR would go on a nice run to take a 39-17 halftime lead. The Gators used a full court press that caused several Storm turnovers and led to several easy baskets. The Gators would continue to put the pedal to the metal and were able to empty their bench by the 9 minute of the second half with 8 of the 10 players who saw action getting into the scoring column. The Gators were led in scoring by Jake Taggart who had 22 points. Taggart also ripped down a career high 7 rebounds and was a floor general for the Gators. Dylan Heggedal netted 12 points along with 3 steals. Kaden Opdahl was the only other Gator with double digits as Opdahl scored 10 points. Kasen Swenson had a strong performance for the Gators as Swenson scored 7 points and was a defensive pest. The Storm are a young team who are trying to overcome an apparent knee injury to Hunter Yutrzenka. Yutrzenka will most certainly be missed by the Storm for some time but coach Nevin Lubarski will have the Storm ready come playoff time. BGMR will now have two days of practice before they head south for games against Barnesville and Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton. Both teams are part of the Heart of Lakes Conference which is one of the stronger conferences in the state. The Gators take on Barnesville on Friday night with game time set for 6:00. BGMR will face DGF on Saturday at 1:00. Both games will be played in Glyndon. They should be outstanding games and some great basketball action will take place.BARNESVILLE CRUSHES GATORS Traveling to Glyndon Minnesota to take on the Barnesville Trojans was going to be a tough task for the BGMR Gator Boys Basketball Team. The Gators however made it even more tough as they struggled on defense, turned the ball over 22 times and gave up 16 offensive rebounds against a solid Trojan team. This in turn led to a 83-64 Trojan victory. The Trojans blistered the Gators for 49 first half points and went into halftime with a 49-29 lead. BGMR would come out with a little bit more fire in the second half and actually outscored the Trojans 35-34 in the second half. This one however was over at halftime as BGMR was no match for the physically dominate Barnesville squad. Jake Taggart led the Gators in scoring with 16. Gage Creekmore added 10 and Kasen Swenson continued his strong play with 9 points. BGMR managed to shoot only 36% from the field which included a 5 for 20 from three point land. The Gators would not have time to feel sorry for themselves as they would take on the host Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton on Saturday at 1:00. BGMR was hoping for a better, more solid game against a young and fast Rebel team.LACKLUSTER EFFORT DOOMS GATORS Looking as if they were still in their pajamas at the hotel and not in Glyndon for a basketball game the BGMR Gators Boys Basketball Team’s lackluster physical and more importantly mental effort led to the Gators getting stomped by the Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Rebels 71-51. Although the Gators played a sloppy first half BGMR would only trail at halftime 32-24. Realizing they weren’t playing their best the Gators were looking for a much stronger second half. Unfortunately, the Gators were not up to the challenge and the Rebels buried the Gators early in the second half. BGMR got a strong game from Kobey Dallager who poured in 12 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. Kaden Opdahl, who was making his first start of the season also scored 12 points. Opdahl and Dallager were the only two Gators to finish in double digit scoring. It was a tough weekend for the Gators but hopefully one that they can learn from. Playing hard physically and mentally and playing together will be the keys for the Gators the remainder of the year. BGMR will start a six game home stand on Tuesday when the Bearcats from Kittson County Central will come to the Swamp. The Bearcats are well coached and have a stand out player in Jarrett Kujava so the Gators will need to clamp down on defense and shoot better than they did this past weekend if they want to get back to their winning ways.Gators respond in overtime win over BearcatsBy: Ryan BergeronA 13-point second half Gator lead completely disappeared after the Kittson County Central Bearcats’ Jarrett Kujava hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 54-54 with 47 seconds left in the game. On the next possession, Gator senior Jake Taggart’s three-point attempt at the buzzer fell short, coming up with nothing but air.Gator Head Coach Kent Christian couldn’t describe exactly what he said to his team going into overtime, mentioning words and phrases such a “perseverance” and “hanging in there.” No matter the message, he said his team responded strongly in overtime. It added up to a 62-58 home win on January 15. The effort he saw from his team in this entire game was in stark contrast to the effort he saw from his team last weekend, losing two games-- to Barnesville and Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton-- by a combined 39 points. “We competed. I didn’t think we did that real well last weekend,” Coach Christian said. “Tonight we really competed. Give Kittson a lot of credit; boy, they have a couple players that can really fill it up. (Bearcats Head Coach Chad) Kujava does a good job of putting them in good positions and makes them tough to defend.” With the game tied at 56 with just over three minutes left in overtime, Gator sophomore Adam Benke put the Gators up for good with a corner three-pointer with 2:58 remaining; the Gators led 59-56. Benke would finish the game with 15 points, including three made three-pointers-- all after halftime. He made two straight three-pointers to turn a 24-25 Gator halftime deficit into a 30-25 Gator lead.“Adam’s a competitor. He hit some huge shots throughout the game, especially when we were in some dry spells. So yeah, that one in OT was big,” Coach Christian said. “(I) definitely like the way he competes and the good thing is (we) got him for a couple more years.”Later in overtime, the Gators would have possession of the ball still up by three, at 61-58, but had an unforced turnover after a pass rolled out of bounds. The Bearcats now had the ball with 21 seconds remaining, providing Jarrett Kujava another opportunity at a game-tying three-pointer. This time, Kujava’s three-pointer with just under seven seconds left was too strong, bouncing high off the back of the rim and over the back board. Intentionally fouled, Taggart made the first of two free throw attempts to seal the win. Before all the overtime dramatics, the Gators had built a second half lead of 11 thanks to a 20-8 run to open the half. Creekmore capped the run with a three-pointer with 12:19 left. The Gators later extended that lead to 13 after a Benke two-pointer, giving the Gators a 48-35 edge with 8:45 remaining in the game.The Gators allowed the Bearcats to battle back. A 7-0 Bearcats run cut the Gator lead to six, at 48-42, with 7:23 left. Later in the second half, Dylan Heggedal made a layup to give the Gators a 53-47 lead with 3:31 remaining, but a 7-1 Bearcats run, capped by that Kujava three-pointer, would set the stage for overtime. As a team, the Gators shot just over 38 percent from the floor and Bearcats shot just over 43 percent. Offensively, besides Benke, Taggart also hit double figures with a team-high 19 points. Heggedal also hit double figures for the Gators with 14 points.Jarrett Kujava led the Bearcats offensively with a game-high 30 points on just under 73 percent shooting. Kaleb Whitlock chipped in 17 points, respectively, for the Bearcats. Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.) Gators “hustle” away from Bears earlyBy: Ryan BergeronThe Gator Boys’ Basketball team had committed 12 turnovers in the first half, but lead 42-22 going into halftime at home versus the Clearbrook-Gonvick Bear. In the second half, the Gators would not allow the Bears to close the gap to any less than 18 points and eventually came away with the 87-60 victory on January 18. Gator Head Coach Kent Christian pointed to one reason his team came away the win. “I thought we really, really hustled,” Coach Christian said. “To be honest with you, I didn’t think we played all that well. I thought we were pretty sloppy with the basketball.”Coach Christian added that he thought his team also caught a break against a Bears team that was coming in with just three losses, but had played the night before. “I don’t think they had as much energy as they normally do,” Coach Christian said about the Bears.Speaking of energy, Coach Christian responded when asked about how much pride he takes in seeing his team play with a high level of effort. Numerous times, one would see the Gator players jumping off the floor to save a ball from going out of bounds.“I hope we take a lot of pride in it because it’s sometimes the difference between winning and losing and we try to preach that,” Coach Christian said. “Again, I really think that was a big reason why we were able to win tonight because I just didn’t think our floor game was all that good.”The Gators led wire-to-wire. Kaden Opdahl grabbed an offensive rebound and then scored two while getting fouled. He made the free throw to give the Gators a 9-2 edge with 13:43 left in the first half.A 6-0 Bears run closed the Gator lead to one, at 9-8, but the Gators responded with a 13-0 run-- a spurt that included three three-pointers-- two from Kasen Swenson and one from Jake Taggart. Thanks to this run, the Gators would lead 22-8 with 8:24 remaining. Two Bear free throws cut the lead to 22-10, but the Gators wouldn’t allow the Bears to get any closer.An 11-1 run gave the Gators a 33-11 lead with 3:19 left before halftime. Seconds after a Bears’ made two-pointer on the team’s ensuing possession, the Bears received a technical foul. Taggart made both technical foul free throws to give the Gators a 35-13 lead with 3:04 left in the half.The Gators built the lead to as high as 24 points in the first half, before going into halftime up by the 20-point margin.In the second half, the Gators continued to add on. A pair of Taggart free throws built the Gator lead to 30, at 79-49, with 4:36 left in the game. The Gators built the lead to as high as 31 points in the closing couple minutes.Speaking of Taggart, he led the Gators offensively with 28 points and on the defensive end had a team-high five steals. Coach Christian appreciated the effort from Taggart, calling him an “intense competitor” with a love for the game. “We really needed him tonight... He played really, really well,” Coach Christian said. “Probably what’s more impressive is he was coming off of last weekend (in Glyndon) where I didn’t think he had his best weekend, so good perseverance on him.”Opdahl and Gage Creekmore also each hit 12 points, respectively, for the Gators. Kobey Dallager hit double figures in rebounds for the Gators with 12. As a team, the Gators shot just under 39 percent from the floor and committed 20 turnovers in the game.On the defensive end, the Gators allowed the Bears to shoot just under 46 percent, but forced 21 Bears turnovers. For the Bears, Erick Bergman led the way with 14 points and Ethan Dorman scored 13. Next Action: The Gators continue its six-game homestand with a game versus the Goodridge/Grygla-Gatzke Chargers on Thursday, January 25 and then a game versus the Sacred Heart Eagles on Tuesday, January 29. Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.)GATORS DOWN CHARGERS Having a week between games is not common this time of year but the BGMR Gators Boys Basketball Team had just that when the Goodridge-Grygla Chargers came to The Swamp. The parent’s night crowd was treated to a face pace game, however the Gators looked rusty in the first half and managed to go into halftime with a 25-18 lead. BGMR would explode for 46 second half points and would send the Chargers home with a 71-52 loss. Offensively the Gators were not real sharp. Although BGMR shot 42% from the field the Gators missed several scoring opportunities. Jake Taggart had a solid performance for the Gators as he scored 16 and dished out 6 assists. Kaden Opdahl gave the Gators an inside presence as he poured in 16 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Gage Creekmore also hit double figures in scoring with 12. The aggressive Chargers managed to land two players in double figure scoring. Kaleb Sjulestad netted 14 and Peyton Verbout scored 10. The Gators will now dig into the heart of their schedule. The Gators will be at home on Tuesday against a talented Sacred Heart team. BGMR will continue their homestand on Thursday when a vastly improving Northern Freeze team comes to The Swamp. The season is flying by so Gator Nation needs to brave the cold temperatures and get out and support their team. The Gators are looking at making some noise in Section 8A and playoffs are just over a month away. The BGMR Gator Boys would like to thank all parents who have been so supportive of the program this year. Early morning practices, coming to games and cheering on all members of the team. Your efforts do not go unrecognized!First half surge leads Gators over FreezeBy: Ryan BergeronThe Gator and Freeze Boys’ Basketball teams went on their runs late in the first half. One team’s run, behind strong defensive pressure, lasted longer.The Freeze went on a 9-2 spurt, capped by a Keaton Klegstad layup with 6:04 left before halftime, to take a 25-23 lead. Later, the Gators made its run, ending the final 4:50 of the first half on an 18-5 run, capped by a Gage Creekmore three-pointer with four seconds left in the half, giving the Gators a 44-33 halftime lead. The Freeze would get to within five points in the second half, but no closer, as the Gators pulled away late in an 83-59 victory in Greenbush on January 31.Asked about the difference during that late Gator first half run, both the Freeze and Gator head coaches pointed to the Gator defensive press.Freeze Head Coach Zach Green explained how his team’s execution and placement within the Gator press was off.“We started getting a little deep on the back side, which allowed those guys (Gators) to kind of run under some passes and get some clean steals,” Coach Green said. “These guys feed off transition points and second chance points, and that’s what we gave them… We had a bunch of kind of mental breakdowns, and yeah, they took advantage of it.”Gator Head Coach Kent Christian also pointed to his team’s defensive pressure as the difference late in that first half, but overall he thought his team could have played better defensively.“Defensively tonight I didn’t think we were very good at all and give the Freeze some credit,” Coach Christian said. “They (the Freeze) hit some big shots, but yeah our pressure turned up a little bit.”As for shooting, both teams shot over 40 percent—the Freeze just under 41 percent and the Gators 50 percent, but the Gators held an edge overall on both the defensive and offensive boards. This led to more scoring opportunities and a 12-1 Gator edge in second chance points. Gator starter Kaden Opdahl led the Gators on the offensive glass with four and finished with eight rebounds overall. He scored back-to-back layups early in the first half, the second one coming after an offensive rebound, to give the Gators a 12-6 lead with 11:55 before halftime In the Gator starting lineup, Opdahl finished with 13 points.“He’s one of our guys that is taller than 5’11,” Coach Christian said when asked about Opdahl’s effectiveness inside. “… Sometimes it’s not real pretty, but he gets the job done. He’s done a good job and really Kaden just gives us some size and he plays hard.”Coach Christian also complimented the shooting of Gage Creekmore in this game. He led the Gators with 20 points and shot efficiently, finishing seven of eight from the floor and six of six from three-point range. He made his final three pointer with 3:23 in the game—at that time giving the Gators a 76-57—the largest lead for the Gators to that point.Also hitting double figures for the Gators, Jake Taggart scored 16 points and Breydon Bertilrud 10 points. Kobey Dallager came up just short of a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds. In the first half, Jaacks Spilde found his rhythm from three-point range, making four three-pointers, accounting for all of his first-half points. The final three-pointer in this half drew the Freeze to within two at 21-19 with 7:35 left in the half. Coach Green said this performance was “nice” to see out of Jaacks.“He’d been coming off a sprained ankle, so maybe just getting some fresh legs underneath him, maybe taking a couple days off made him feel a little better,” Coach Green said. “But it really helps the offense when you start hitting from the outside and then you can penetrate a little easier and kind of get the inside-outside game going a little bit.”Jaack Spilde’s lone three-pointer in the second half pulled the Freeze to within five points, at 51-46, with 12:51 left in the game, but the Freeze would get no closer after a 10-2 Gator run, capped by a Kasen Swenson three-pointer that gave the Gators a 61-48 lead with 7:37. Also hitting double figures for the Freeze, Gunner Koland led the team with 20 points and Jackson Spilde chipped in 13 points, respectively. The final score didn’t reflect the way his team played, Coach Green explained.“That was one of the better games I thought we played in a long time as a group,” Coach Green said. “It’s just that we came against BGMR; they played phenomenal that night too.”The Freeze had a couple “bad stretches,” Coach Green said, and the Gators took advantage. Next Action: After hitting the road to Hallock to face the Kittson County Central Bearcats on February 5, the Gators head back on the road on Thursday, February 7, to face the Sacred Heart Eagles in East Grand Forks. The Gators return home to host the Crookston Pirates on February 12. Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.)BEARCATS DOWN GATORS Having lost to the Gators in overtime just over a week ago the Kittson County Bearcats were looking for some revenge when the Gators traveled to Hallock for a key Six Star Conference showdown. The Bearcats got the revenge they were looking for as they downed the Gators 80-71. The Gators would open up an early seven point lead but consistent and deliberate play by the Bearcats and some cold shooting by the Gators would allow the Bearcats to go into halftime with a 35-30 lead. The second half would be played with extreme intensity by both teams and the Gators would take a one point lead with just over 2 minutes to play. The Bearcats would storm back and immediately get the lead back on two free throws by Mitchell Docken. BGMR would miss a shot and Kittson County Central would capitalize on a three pointer by Jarrett Kujava. The Gators would not recover from this dagger and the Bearcats would hold the home court victory. The Gators had absolutely no answer for Kujava who would manage a game high 34 points and 8 rebounds. Docken was also a Gator killer with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Kaleb Whitlock would get to double figures with 13 points. Dylan Heggedal would pace the Gators in scoring with17 points. Gage Creekmore and Jake Taggart would notch 13 points apiece. Adam Benke also had a solid game with 9 points. In a game that came down to one or two possessions the Gators were unable to overcome some tough situations and get that key defensive stop or key basket. It was a high energy game and one in which the Gators will hopefully learn from. Weather is playing havoc with the Gator schedule. Tonight’s game versus Sacred Heart has been postponed. As of now the Gators next game will be on Tuesday at home versus a solid Crookston team.Gators rally late, fall in OTBy: Ryan BergeronThe boys’ basketball game between the Gators and the Crookston Pirates in the Swamp on February 12 provided much late-game drama. The Gators trailed the Pirates by nine points with under a minute and a half left in the game, but staged a comeback, capped by a game-tying three-pointer in the closing seconds, to tie the game at 70 and send it to overtime. The Gators couldn’t carry that momentum into overtime, allowing the Pirates to open the period on a 7-0 run, and eventually fell by a 81-76 final.“We just didn’t get going (in overtime). I don’t think they did anything different,” Gator Head Coach Kent Christian said. “We had a couple layups that we didn’t make and they made their shots.” The Gators’ first points in the four-minute overtime period wouldn’t come until a Jake Taggart three-pointer with 38 seconds left. How did the game even get to overtime? Trailing 67-58 with 1:13 left, the Gators would hit some shots and play the foul game, gradually closing the gap to 70-67 with 19 seconds remaining. Out of a timeout, the Gators committed an intentional foul to send Carter Bruggeman to the line. Bruggeman would miss both free throws and the Gators would get the ball back with a chance to tie the game.In the closing seconds, Jake Taggart drove towards the basket, but kicked it out when he heard his name called by teammate Adam Benke. Taggart immediately kicked out the ball to Benke-- wide open in the corner behind the three-point line next to the Gator bench. Benke sunk the shot with 6.5 seconds left, setting off a roar from Gator Nation and a scream from Benke. The Pirates last second shot didn’t get off on time, and the game went to overtime.“Obviously we’d like to see that effort the whole game,” Coach Christian said when asked about his team’s effort during the comeback. “If we put in that type of effort I don’t think we lose the game. Really the guys played it well. They fouled when we needed to, we hit some big shots and got to overtime.”Both teams would play to a 35-35 tie after the first half as well. The Gators would open the second half on a 10-3 run, capped by a Dylan Heggedal two-pointer with 12:10 left in the game, giving the Gators a 45-38 edge.The Pirates responded with a 10-0 run, putting the Gators in a 45-48 deficit. Now trailing, the Gators would commit two unforced turnovers-- both times after dropping passes inside underneath the basket. Coach Christian took timeouts after both turnovers, telling his players to sit down during the second of these timeouts.Just over 20 seconds later, Benke hit a corner three-pointer to tie the game at 48-48. Later, the Gators would tie the game again, this time at 56-56 on a Gage Creekmore three-pointer with 4:39 left in the game. The Pirates then responded with an 11-2 run, setting the stage for the Gator comeback.The Gators shot just under 37 percent and the Pirates just under 47 percent from the floor. The Gators did make six more shots in the game than the Pirates, but the Pirates had a decided advantage at the free-throw line. The Pirates made 30 of 41 free throw attempts and the Gators 8 of 12. Heggedal led the Gators with 19 points and also posted a double-double with 10 rebounds. Creekmore also posted a double-double for the Gators with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Also hitting double figures for the Gators, Benke scored 11 points and Taggart 10, respectively. Nick Garmen led the Pirates with a game-high 40 points, including a perfect 14 of 14 performance from the free-throw line and a 6 of 10 performance from three-point range. Caden Osborn scored 20 points for the Pirates.Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.)GATORS COME HOME WITH ROAD WIN After suffering a tough overtime loss to Crookston on Tuesday night the BGMR Gator Boys Basketball Team was looking to get back to their winning ways. Traveling to Warren is never an easy task but the Gators were up to the challenge and brought home a 67-31 victory over the Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Ponies. The Gators were sluggish again in the first half but would manage to go into halftime with a 29-18 lead. Coming out of halftime the Gators were on a mission and would overpower the young but ever improving Pony team. BGMR would widen their lead to 37 with over 9 minutes to play and the Gators were able to play several players for several minutes. Offensively the Gators were led by Jake Taggart who managed to dump in 17 points and dish out 3 assists. Gage Creekmore would score 12 and pulled down 6 rebounds. Adam Benke would score net 11. The Gators will have a busy week next week. BGMR will be at home on Monday versus Sacred Heart. This is a makeup game from earlier in the year with the C game starting at 1:00. BGMR will finish out their home schedule on Tuesday when an ever improving Stephen-Argyle Storm team comes to town. This will also mark the last home game for four Gator seniors. Thursday the Gators will make a trip to Baudette to take on Lake of the Woods and on Friday the Gators will head to Warroad to take on the Warriors. The action will be fast and furious and the regular season is winding down. March Madness is just around the corner.Gators falter late in loss to EaglesBy: Ryan BergeronThe Gators led 49-47 following a Dylan Heggedal three-pointer with 6:05 left in a boys’ basketball game versus the Sacred Heart Eagles. From there, things would fall apart for the Gators.The Eagles used a 9-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to put the Gators in a 49-56 deficit with 3:34 left in the game and the Gators could never recover, getting as close as five, before falling by a 69-59 final at home on February 18.“Total lack of composure on our part from about the five-minute mark down,” Coach Christian said about the difference late in the game. “They (the Eagles) hit shots and we turned the ball over, didn’t make passes, and just really didn’t play well at all.”In the first half, the Gators would build a 22-14 lead, thanks to a 6-0 run, capped by a Jake Taggart two-pointer with 6:30 left before halftime. The Eagles ended the half on a 14-6 run, capped by a Oscar Ortiz three-pointer as the first half buzzer sounded, tying the game at 28-28 going into halftime.In the second half, both teams went back and forth, neither building a lead larger than three points until a Sam Gapp two and one opportunity put the Gators in a 43-47 deficit with 7:39 to play. The Gators used a 6-0 run, including a Breydon Bertilrud free throw and layup and that Heggedal three-pointer, to take back the lead at 49-47-- the team’s final lead of the game.Offensively, the Gators shot just over 41 percent and the Eagles 45 percent, but the Gators committed twice as many turnovers as the Eagles (22 to 11) and made half as many free throws (8 to 16). The Gators did win the rebounding battle by a 34-21 margin.Taggart led the Gators with a game-high 23 points on 50 percent shooting. Dylan Heggedal also hit double figures for the Gators with 14 points, also on 50 percent shooting, before fouling out in the closing seconds of the game. Ortiz led the Eagles with 19 points, including a four of five night from three-point range. Also hitting double figures for the Eagles, James Fontaine scored 16 points and Brenden Bethke 13 points. This game featured two teams neck and neck with one another in the sub-section standings-- the Eagles in second and the Gators third. It also represented the Gators fifth loss-- out of eight total losses this season-- by ten points or less. Asked what has to change for his team to come out on top over some of the section’s top teams during tournament time, Coach Christian pointed to a mindset. “We got to learn how to win. I thought most of the night we were ‘deer in the headlights’ look,” Coach Christian said. “Let’s face it, these guys haven’t won a lot of close games in their careers, so that definitely has to change.” Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.)GATORS HANDLE STORM Coming off a disappointing effort the previous night the BGMR Gator Boys Basketball Team came out on a mission and left little doubt in a 94-47 victory over the Stephen-Argyle Storm. With four seniors making their final appearance in The Swamp and all four seniors starting the Gators would play excellent team basketball in the first half and rode their strong defense to a 54-24 halftime lead. BGMR would continue its strong play with several individuals seeing action in the second half. BGMR would get strong play from several individuals but Jake Taggart would lead the way offensively with 28 points and 7 rebounds. Gage Creekmore, who was coming off a tough night the previous night, netted 16 and pulled down 5 rebounds. Adam Benke was the only other Gator in double figures scoring with 11 however the Gators had 10 individuals in the scoring column. A young and well coach Storm team landed Jason Lindgren, Kole Szczepanski, and Dawson Feuillerat in double digits with 10 points apiece. Tuesday’s night’s game marked the final home game of the 2018-2019 season for the Gators. BGMR will finish the season with a 5 game road trip. The final game also marked the last home game for four Gator seniors. Jake Taggart, Dylan Heggedal, Breydon Bertilrud and Kamrin Weets playing their last game in The Swamp. With the win the Gators clinched the Six Star Conference title. It is the first time the Gators have won the conference title since 2008. The Gators will continue their busy week when they travel to Lake of the Woods tomorrow. The trip to Baudette can be a tough one so the Gators will need to be focused. On Friday the Gators travel to Warroad to take on a solid and experienced Warrior team. This one could be a dandy and Gator Nation will need to come out in force. Tournament time is just over two weeks away and the Gators will be looking for solid consistency in their play.GATOR BOYS RACE TO VICTORY Coming out and establishing themselves early, the BGMR Gator Boys Basketball Team used pressure defense and efficient offense to roll over the Lake of the Woods Bears 91-37. The Bears would open the game with a 2-0 lead but BGMR would tighten things up and went into halftime up 59-17. BGMR would carry that momentum into the second half and the Gators were able to rest many of their starters in anticipation of tonight’s match-up against Warroad. BGMR had 4 individuals reach double digits in scoring. Jake Taggart continued his strong play with 20 points. Breydon Bertilrud posted a career high 15 points. Dylan Heggedal secured a double/double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Kaden Opdahl gave the Gators a strong inside presence and netted 13 points. The Gators played good team offensive basketball as they dished out 21 assists. The Bears got a solid performance from Isaiah Mason who had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Tanner Nordlof also reached double digit scoring for the Bears with 10 points. The Gators will continue their busy week when they travel to Warroad tonight to take on an experienced Warrior team. This should be an outstanding game with two evenly matched teams. BGMR will continue their road swing with a game at Grygla on Monday and a game at East Grand Forks Sacred Heart on Tuesday. BGMR will finish up regular season play next Friday when they travel to Roseau.GATORS SNEAK BY WARRIORS With neither team shooting the ball particularly well and both teams having an unordinary amount of turnovers the BGMR Gators were able to defeat the Warroad Warriors 54-47. Both team would jockey back and forth in the first half. The Gators were able to do an outstanding job on the defensive boards limiting the Warriors to one shot on most possessions. Because of this the Gators would go into halftime with a 53-47 lead. The Gators started the second half fairly strong but looked like a dry Sahara Desert on offense for a six minute stretch and the Warriors took advantage. The Gators however kept their composure and despite some awful free throwing shooting with the game on the line, missing seven consecutive free throws at one point, BGMR revved up their defense even more and held on for the win. Breydon Bertilrud played perhaps the best game of his career as Bertilrud scored 16 points and ripped down 11 rebounds. Dylan Heggedal just missed a double/double with 13 points and 9 rebounds and Jake Taggart notched 11 points. Isaac Falk-Stoskopf was strong for the Warriors as Falk-Stoskopf put in 16 points and 8 rebounds. Jett Shoen had a double/double for the Warriors scoring 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. The Gators will have the weekend off from games put will be right back to it on Monday when they travel to Grygla to take on the Grygla-Goodridge Chargers. The Gators have beaten the Chargers twice this year but Grygla is a hostile place to play. The road warriors from BGMR will continue their season with a game on Tuesday at East Grand Forks Sacred Heart. Gator Nation will need to be out in force as the boys come down the stretch. The BGMR Gator Boys Basketball Team would like to take this time to say congratulations to the Gator Wrestling Team for making it to the state tournament! Good Luck and GO GATORS!GATOR BOYS OVERCOME SLOW START With a Parent’s Night crowd filling the Grygla gym the BGMR Gator Boy’s Basketball team found themselves down by 12 points early in the first half to an aggressive Grygla-Goodridge Charger team. The Gators however were able to find their rhythm and brought home an 80-55 win. The Chargers took command of the game from the opening tip and proceeded to build their 12 point lead within the first 4 minutes of the game. At that point BGMR would cut into the lead with the Chargers holding a 7 point lead with 10 minutes to go in the first half. The Gators would settle down and started playing more aggressive both offensively and defensively and went into halftime with a 47-32 lead. The Gators came out with even more intensity in the second half and built their lead to 34 with over 7 minutes to go in the game. With a sizable lead and a game the following night several Gators got some rest as the Gators outscored the Chargers 33-23 in the second half. Although he started slow the Gators got a strong performance from Kaden Opdahl as he scored a career high 21 points. Jake Taggart who was 24 points shy of 1,000 career points coming into the game netted 12. Dylan Heggedal and Adam Benke scored 11 each and Kobey Dallager pumped in 10. The Chargers got strong performances from Jake Tharaldson who scored 23 and Kaleb Sjulestad who notched 16 points. The Gators busy streak continues tonight when they travel to East Grand Forks to take on the Sacred Heart Eagles. The Eagles downed the Gators by 10 points a week ago. This game looks to have some serious playoff ramifications as both teams are battling for playoff positioning. It should be a fun environment and a game that pits two evenly matched teams against each other.EAGLES USE LATE SURGE TO DOWN GATORS Coming out of halftime with a 10 point lead the BGMR Gator Boys Basketball was unable to contain the Sacred Heart Eagles dynamic duo of Brenden Bethke and John Fontaine and the Eagles downed the Gators 81-76 The Gators shot the ball extremely well in the first half and went into halftime leading 47-37. In a tightly officiated game the Gators were in some foul trouble and were unable to contain the Eagles drive to the basket which would doom the Gators in the second half. Needing twelve points to reach 1,000 for his career Gator senior Jake Taggart would have 9 points going into halftime. After a pull-up jumper got Taggart to within one of the career milestone Taggart would hit the 1,000 point barrier on a free throw. A gracious Sacred Heart team stopped the game and with Gator Nation and Eagle Nation standing Taggart was acknowledged. The Eagles would jump ahead of the Gators with just over 3 minutes left in the game and BGMR could not get the key defensive stops it needed and had a couple costly turnovers with the game on the line which sealed the Gators fate. The Gators were led in scoring by Taggart who finished with 21. Dylan Heggedal also hit double digits with 17. Sacred Heart had dominating performances from Fontaine who netted 32 and Bethke who dumped in 28. The loss pushed the Gators down to the #4 seed for the upcoming playoffs. The Gators will take on a surging Red Lake County squad next Thursday night at the University of Minnesota Crookston with game time being 7:45. All teams records are 0-0. It is playoff time and the Gators will be ready to make their march through March. GATOR BOYS END REGULAR SEASON WITH LOSS The BGMR Gator Boys Basketball Team travel to arch rival Roseau to take on the Rams in the regular season finale for both teams. The near capacity crowd was treated to a back and forth affair with the Rams outlasting the Gators by the score of 77-68. The Rams would jump on the Gators early but BGMR would manage to hang on and go into halftime trailing 33-31. The Gators would have a strong start to the second half and would take a ten point lead with just over 10 minutes to go. The Rams would storm right back and the game would change leads several times until the last 3 minutes when the Gators could not hit a shot and the Rams Eric Hofer would will his team to victory. Hofer would finish the night with 35 points. This would be the sixth time this season where the Gators have allowed an opposing player to score 28 or more points. The Gators have only allowed that to happen four times in the last three years combined. Jacob Lindeman would also net double figures for the Rams with 10 points. The Gators got a solid performance from Adam Benke who would score 16. Kobey Dallager would dump in 12 and Jake Taggart would notch 11. The Gators finished the regular season with a 16-10 record. It is now off to tournament time where the Gators will take on the Red Lake County Rebels. The Rebels have improved a great deal during the year and this Thursdays matchup should be a good one. Game time is set for 7:45 on the campus of the University of Minnesota Crookston. March is here and it is time for the madness to begin. The Gators Boys Basketball program would like to congratulate the wrestlers in their fine showing at the state tournament. Also good luck to the girls basketball team as they continue their road through the playoffs.Gators jump out early in opening playoff winBy: Ryan BergeronIn his team’s opening playoff game versus the Red Lake County Rebels, Gator Head Boys’ Basketball Coach Kent Christian knew how important getting off to a fast start would be for his team. The Gators did just that. Trailing 9-8 with 15:05 left in the first half, the Gators wouldn’t trail again, going on a 21-6 run to open up a 29-15 lead with 9:51 remaining before halftime. Building a 49-28 halftime lead, the Gators maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way in a 76-62 victory over the Rebels on March 7.Coach Christian saw his team come out with much energy in this game. In that opening half, the Gators shot just over 53 percent, including just over 57 percent (8 of 14) from three-point range.“We got some shots down early,” Coach Christian said, “and I thought going in, the team that hit the most shots early could probably relax a little bit more, and we happened to do that.” During that 21-6 run, Gator senior Jake Taggart caught fire from three-point range, hitting four three-pointers. Fellow senior Dylan Heggedal also hit a pair of three-pointers in this first half. For the half, the Gators made 8 of 14 three-point attempts. Leading 41-28 with 3:57 left before halftime, the Gators ended the half on an 8-0 run, led by a pair of Taggart layups.In the first half alone, Taggart finished with 18 points and ended with a team-high 22. Leading 60-40 with just under 11 minutes to play, the Gators allowed the Rebels to cut the deficit in half with a 13-3 run, started and capped by three-pointers courtesy of the Rebels’ Derek Peterson. With 6:21 remaining, the Gators led 63-53.The Rebels would get no closer. A 7-2 run Gator run, started by a Gage Creekmore successful two and one opportunity and capped by a Benke layup, gave the Gators a 70-55 lead with 4:38 left in the game. The Gators built the lead to as high as 18 points before winning by the final margin. Offensively, the Gators shot just over 48 percent from the floor. Besides Taggart, two other Gator players hit double figures, including Benke with 11 points and Heggedal with 10. Heggedal also came two rebounds shy of a double-double. Creekmore chipped in nine points, respectively, for the Gators.The Rebels shot just under 44 percent from the floor. Peterson led the Rebels with a game-high 25 points. Isiah Olson also reached double figures for the Rebels with 16 points and also came two rebounds shy of a double-double.With the victory, the fourth-seeded Gators would advance to the sub-section semifinals versus the top-seeded team in the west sub-section, the one-loss Ada-Borup Cougars. Coach Christian responded when asked about what it would take for his team to get past the Cougars.“It’s going to take a real, real solid effort,” Coach Christian said. “They’re really tough, but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.)Slow second half start costs Gators in playoff lossBy: Ryan BergeronThe Gator Boys’ Basketball team never led in the first half versus the one-loss, top-seeded Ada-Borup Cougars, but kept pace, trailing 35-31 at halftime.An 8-0 Cougars’ run to open the half, all courtesy of Preston Gwin, would put the Gators in a 43-31 with 14:15 remaining in the game. The Gators could never fully recover, cutting the lead to as low as nine on a few occasions, before falling 69-55, putting an end to its postseason run at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls on March 9.“We took a couple shots that just didn’t go down,” Coach Christian said about that opening second half run. “We had a couple threes that went in and out. They got a little bit of a lead and we just couldn’t come back from it.” In the first half, the Gators fell into a 14-8 deficit, influencing a Coach Christian timeout with 11:38 remaining before halftime. The Gators gradually cut into this deficit. A 10-5 Gator run, capped by a pair of Kaden Opdahl layups, cut the deficit to one, at 18-19, with 6:11 left in the half. Jake Taggart then tied the game at 23-23 on a three-pointer with 4:42 remaining before halftime, showing some emotion after making the shot. The Gators couldn’t take a lead, but stayed within a single possession the rest of the half, until a Gwin three-pointer with 32 seconds left put the Gators in that four-point halftime deficit.To begin the second half, the Gators came out cold. The Gators’ first point of the second half came on an Adam Benke free throw with 13:44 remaining and the first made basket on a Opdahl layup with 12:28 remaining, cutting the deficit to 43-34 at that time. For the game, the Gators finished just over 32 percent from the floor. As for the Cougars, the team shot 50 percent from the floor. Besides some shooting trouble in that second half, the Gators would also encounter some foul trouble during its attempt to rally from a Cougar lead that grew as high as 14 points. Senior Dylan Heggedal fouled out with 7:03 remaining in the game. Later, senior Taggart fouled out with 2:02 left in the game, just six seconds after he drew the Gators to within nine points for the final time-- at 52-61-- on a layup. This foul trouble translated into more free throw attempts for the Cougars. For the game, the Gators finished 4 of 7 at the free throw line, compared to 14 of 33 for the Cougars. Speaking of seniors, the Gators lose four players to graduation, including Breydon Bertilrud, Taggart, Heggedal, and Kamrin Weets. The program also loses a senior manager in Chelanne Kostrzewski. “I’m going to really, really miss them,” Coach Christian said about his senior class. “They’re gym rats, they’re special kids, good basketball players, but better yet, they’re better people.”Offensively, Taggart led the Gators with 16 points. Benke also hit double figures for the Gators with 10 points, respectively. For the Cougars, 6’8 junior center Mason Miller provided a strong inside presence, leading the team with 21 points and recording a double-double with 13 rebounds. Gwin scored 20 points, posting a 5 of 8 performance from three-point range, for the Cougars. With the loss, the Gators finished the season with a 17-11 record.“They grew a lot,” said Coach Christian about this season’s team. “(I’m) real proud of them-- great effort, a special group of seniors. I can’t ask for much more.”Copyright of The Tribune (Greenbush, Minn.) ................
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