Jacks Fall To Minn Transition Charter School 91-55

Click Here For The Complete Game Box Score

Dec 15

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Cloquet Lumberjacks took on one of the state’s premier teams Tuesday night in a boys basketball matchup. The Lumberjacks faced the Minnesota Transition Charter School from Minneapolis who also features one on the state’s best players in Kyle Noreen. The Lumberjacks battled, but in the end the Wolves were too much as they defeated the Lumberjacks by a final score of 91-55.

The Wolves, a school rich in basketball tradition is the defending state champion in Class A and has won 25 straight games, the last loss was a 70-67 loss back in January to Minnetonka, a Class 4A power. The only school to have more wins in the last five years in boys or girls basketball has been the Barnum Bombers girls basketball team.

The Wolves also feature Kyle Noreen, the highly recruited guard for the Wolves. Noreen is average 37.1 points per game on this young season. He is also the younger brother of Kevin Noreen who is playing college basketball for Boston College. The Older Noreen is Minnesota’s all time leading scorer with over 4000 points in his career.

The Wolves jumped out early on Cloquet as both teams did shoot well in the first half. Cloquet shot 45% from the floor in the first half but the Wolves shot 57% to give them the edge. The Wolves led at halftime by a score of 56-27. The Lumberjacks turned the ball over 23 times in the game which proved costly as the Wolves capitalized, scoring 31 points off turnovers. They scored big time in the paint as well, outscoring Cloquet inside by a 54-22 margin.

The Lumberjacks got another big night from senior Andy Wappes, who finished with 24 points in the loss for Cloquet. Adam Laine followed with 10 points, Dane Kiehn added 8, Karl Palmquist ended with 4, Cody Stevens had 3, Zach Peterson, Trent Moe, and Sean Ferrell all had 2 points each for the Lumberjacks. Noreen led all scorers with 34 for the Wolves.

Cloquet falls to 0-3 on the season and they are back in action again on Friday night when they face the Proctor Rails. The Lumberjacks will be back at home next Tuesday for their home opener of the season, facing the Hermantown Hawks.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com