McGregor ends Carlton’s Season

Photos by: Marianne Pierson

Tyler Peterson-NSO

In the play-in round of games, the No. 8 seeded McGregor Mercuries and No. 9 seeded Carlton Bulldogs squared off. The Mercuries would lead 28-18 at the half and would outscore the Bulldogs 38-32 in the second half en route to the 66-50 victory in the Section 7A play-in game.

Layne Sprague would lead the Mercuries to the victory scoring 20 points on 7/12 shooting and grabbing 12 boards to secure the double-double. Billy Staska also help lead to Mercuries as he notched 20 points on 9/17 shooting and pulled down 10 rebound in the winning effort. Also in the win, Jordan Mickelson notched 15 points, Cole Gelhar pitched in 6, Cole Hoover and Auston Anderson each tallied 2, and Zach Kruse topped it off with 1.

In the loss for the Bulldogs, Cade Pierson had a team high 12 points, followed by Eric Soderstrom who added 10 points and 9 rebounds on the night. Also in the box score for Carlton was Nick Lee with 9 points, Waylon Lekander pitching in 7, Dominic Bennett tallying 5, Adam Ermatinger scoring 4, and Tyler Ojibway rounding it out with 3.

The Mercuries improve to 8-17 on the season and will play the No.1 seeded Fond Du Lac Ojibwe Ogichida (20-3) on February 27th at Esko with a 7:30 PM tip off. The Bulldogs end their season with a disappointing 3-20 record but will return everyone from this years team next season.

Adam Ermatinger will play in the Polar League All Star Series on March 24th at Two Harbors High school and was the lone player submitted to the ream from Carlton.

Tyler Peterson can be contacted at tpeterson@northlandsportsonline.com