Jacks come up just short against Patriots after dramatic comeback
Feb. 20—BEMIDJI — The Bemidji High School boys basketball team rallied until the very end on Tuesday night at the BHS Gymnasium.
Trailing 49-40 with just under four minutes to go against Pequot Lakes, the Lumberjacks hacked away at the deficit until only three points separated them from the Patriots. Braden Luksik's heavily contested 3-pointer at the top of the key brought Bemidji to 52-49 with 16.6 seconds to go.
But the Jacks couldn't force a turnover, and PL's Blake Spiczka sank one of two free throws to make it a two-possession game. BHS couldn't convert on its next possession, and the Lumberjacks had to live with a 53-49 defeat.
"It feels good to be competing at a high level and displaying the kind of toughness and grit that we've displayed here in this last month of the season," said BHS head coach Steve Thompson. "It's always disappointing when you come up a little bit short. But we're doing a lot of really good things in order to be in position to win games at the end."
Bemidji's best stretch of the game came at the outset. The Lumberjacks (10-13) raced out to an 11-2 lead as Pequot Lakes (19-4) struggled to find daylight around the arc or inside the restricted area.
But that flipped once the Patriots deployed a 2-3 zone, discombobulating BHS and forcing the Jacks to find pockets of space in uncomfortable areas of the floor.
"It took us out of our rhythm offensively," Thompson said. "We were a little rushed in our attack instead of being patient in attack. So that's a great learning lesson for us and (a) tool that we can use moving forward."
The Lumberjacks eventually settled down, but it took a while. Pequot Lakes steadily built after falling down early and erased its deficit, procuring a 23-20 advantage at halftime.
The Patriots picked up where they left off in the second half, cresting to a 38-26 edge in the final frame. But Jaxon Boschee's elbow jumper began the long climb back, and by the end of the contest, the Jacks were right back in the thick of contention.
"The message is that we're close," Thompson said. "We're close, and we've just got to keep hunting that finish at the end. ... It felt like we didn't execute cleanly enough early in the game when we had some really good opportunities. I would say that that was probably the difference."
Bemidji has two games remaining before the regular season ends and the Section 8-4A playoffs begin. What has been an up-and-down campaign featuring a very young team is nearing its conclusion, and the coda for this version of the Lumberjacks is soon to be written.
"I want to see us be a little bit cleaner in execution so that we are in a better position at the end of the game," Thompson said. "That's kind of what I'm looking for right now. I thought our competitive fight and grit tonight was really, really good from the start to the end. ... I don't like to believe that age has any deciding factor on the outcome at the end."
Pequot Lakes 53, Bemidji 49
PL 23 30 — 53
BHS 20 29 — 49
BEMIDJI — Boschee 20, Luksik 15, Riewer 6, Brown 4, Huseby 3, Zellmann 1.
PEQUOT LAKES — Kennen 15, Bl. Spiczka 11, E. Quale 10, Erickson 9, Br. Spiczka 4, C. Quale 2, Sommerness 2.
