Karppinen hits 1000 in Panthers Comeback

Photos by: Paula Gellatly

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The South Ridge Panthers rallied form thirteen points down Saturday night to beat the Floodwood Polar Bears and move into the section semi finals next Wednesday night where they will face the Ely Timberwolves.

The Panthers who trailed late in the first half cut the lead down to seven at 31-24 at halftime. The Second half started and it was all South Ridge as the Panthers Kody Karppinen and Dominic Janke who took control both hitting three pointers and making drives to the basket resulting in lay-ups most often coming from turnovers created by the Panther defense.

Karppinen hit back to back three-pointers early in the second half as he cracked the 1000 point barrier for his career, and Dominic Janke posted some clutch three’s as the Panthers built up their own 13 point lead late and went on to the 11 point win.

Dominic Janke finished with 18 points leading all scorers, Karppinen and Colton Peterson each added 13, Drew Janke pitched in with 8 and Bill Redding finished with 3 points.

The Polar Bears were led by Willow Christenson who had 11 points in the loss for Floodwood, Kyle Tamminen added 11, Noah Thompson ended with 10, and Ryder Lough scored 7, and it was Riley Brensdorf closing the Floodwood scoring with 4 points.

Floodwood finishes with a record of 18-7 and they should return on of the strongest teams in section 7A next year as they return all five starters from this season’s team. The Panther win their 15^th in a row and move to 22-3.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at Dwight@northlandsportsonline.com