Cloquet Plays Tough But Falls To East 86-54

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Feb 3

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

CLOQUET- On paper this game was a no brainer as the 11-5 Greyhounds of Duluth East were taking on the 4-11 Lumberjacks of Cloquet in a non-conference match-up. They Greyhounds coming off impressive wins over basketball powers Minnesota Transitions Charter, Grand Rapids, Hermantown, and Holy Angels to name a few, with three of those teams all beating Cloquet by twenty-five or more.

It was a sure win for the Greyhounds on paper, but nobody told Cloquet as they played a near perfect first half only to see their hard work fall as they lose to the Greyhounds 86-54. The Lumberjacks opened up the first half falling behind 5-0, but they soon got their confidence and took their first lead of the game at 7-5. The Lumberjacks had the lead for the next six minutes of the first half and when East took a 17-16 lead that was the last lead change of the game.

East went on a 9-0 run and built a 24-16 lead with only a few minutes left in the half. Cloquet battled back and with one minute remaining it was a 32-24 lead for the Greyhounds. The six point deficit turned into twelve over the last minute of the half as three straight turnovers led to six quick points and a 38-26 lead at halftime.

“We played pretty well in the first half,” Head Coach Steve Battaglia told Northland Sports Online. “If we could have made a few more shots inside, you just never know.” Battaglia added “The last three games we have been improving game by game, its coming along slowly but we had a good effort tonight.” Battaglia went on to state “you never know, we keep improving and come playoffs we could knock some teams off.”

The second half was the complete opposite of the first half as the Greyhounds came out, used their speed and quickness to control the tempo of the game and took a twelve point lead and made it thirty in a matter of minutes. Junior sensation Johnny Woodard led all scorers on the night with 29 points, Taylor Stafford had 20, Dusty Roseyth and Ian Nelson each finished with 8 for the Greyhounds.

The Lumberjacks were led by senior forward Andrew Wappes who finished with 13 points on the night. Zach Peterson added 12, Dane Kiehn finished with 8, Sean Ferrell and Dillon Johnson both ended with 5, Trent Moe added 4, Karl Palmquist pitched in with 3, Cody Stevens and Maxx Brenner each added 2, and rounding out the scoring for Cloquet was Adam Laine with 1.

Cloquet falls to 4-12 on the season and they are in action again when they face Virginia at 7:30 Saturday night in Virginia. The Greyhounds improve to 12-5 and they will play at Superior on Saturday afternoon.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com