Karppinen Scores 1,000th Point Leads AlBrook-Cotton to Win

Photos contributed by Paula Gellatly

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Dec 17

Andrew Chalberg-NSO

AlBrook – It was a special night at the AlBrook gym on Thursday night as Bryce Karppinen added another page to the long history of AlBrook Athletics. Karppinen scored his 1,000th career point and led AlBrook-Cotton to a win over the Wrenshall Wrens 69-64 in Saginaw.

Karppinen, a senior was a key member of last year’s Section 7 runners-up team and tonight led all Falcon scorers with 21 total points to put him at 1,003 career points. Bryce comes from a family of talented athletes. His parents Kelly and Roxie Karppinen of Alborn were multi-sport athletes in high school. Roxie broke the 1,000 point mark for the Floodwood Polar Bears and Kelly led AlBrook to their first Region 7A Final Four appearance his Senior year. However, injuries during his athletic career would prevent him from topping the 1,000 point plateau, finishing with an impressive 970 career points.

Freshman Dominic Janke and Junior Dan Wood each added 16 points and (3) three point scores respectfully for the Falcons. Cory Saver added13 including (3) 3-pointers while Alec Wolfe rounded out the scoring with 3 points.

Wrenshall was lead by Senior Brett Johnson’s 28 points, including five 3-pointers and Sophomore Derek Duncan, who added 15 in the loss. Jack Dolter added 10, Mitch Frank and Matt O’Connor scored 4 each, Pete Granholm added 2, while Mark Mallon rounded out the scoring with 1 point.

Wrenshall will look for their first win (0-3) as they travel to Two Harbors on Friday. The Falcons improve to 2-2 and are off until the 29th of December when they will participate in the Proctor Holiday Tournament.

Andrew Chalberg can be reached at andrew@northlandsportsonline.com