Esko Goes Undefeated At Wood City Classic

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Dec 30

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

CLOQUET – The Esko Eskomos, for two straight days, had to play from behind as they overcame a sixteen point East Central lead to come back and defeat the Eagles by a final score of 57-55. The Eskomos trailed by fifteen points at halftime but rallied back strong in the second half to come away with the win and be the only unbeaten team in the boy’s portion of the 2010 Wood City Classic.

Kevin Klocke, Adam Jensen, and Tom Battaglia carried the load in the first half as the Eagles took control of the game in the first several minutes and quickly built a double digit lead. Several first half turnovers resulted in easy baskets for the Eagles as their lead continued to grow. The Eagles took a 37-22 lead into the locker room at the break.

The second half saw the Eskomos come out firing. Esko used timely shooting along with Eagle turnovers, coupled with East Central going cold from the floor allowed the Eskomos to cut into the Eagle lead. Jake Stainbrook, Adam Eskuri and Jackson Lindquist continued to hit key shots that helped dwindle the lead down to two points with a little over four minutes remaining.

Esko took the lead for good late in the game when Eskuri hit his second straight three-pointer to put Esko in front to stay at 52-51. The Eskomos outscored the Eagles 30-15 over the final ten minutes to secure the win and stay undefeated on the season.

Jake Stainbrook led the Eskomos with 16 points. Adam Eskuri added 15 and Lindquist 12 in the Eskomos victory. Rounding out the rest of the Eskomo scoring was Andrew Wendland with 6, Marc Peterson 5, and Jared Harms with 2. The Eagle had three players in double figures including Kevin Klocke with 13, Tom Battaglia with 11, and Adam Jensen with 10.

Esko improves to 7-0 overall on the season, they will host Wrenshall in a Polar League battle on Tuesday night at Esko High School. East Central falls to 6-2 on the season, they will take on the Proctor Rails next Friday in Proctor.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com