Eskomos Open Tournament Play With A Win

Wes Vork-NSO

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Mar 9

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Esko Eskomos opened the 2010-2011 boys sectional tournament with a win at home on Wednesday night. The Eskomos took down the Pine City Dragons by a score of 77-52. Last Friday night these two teams met to close out the regular season and it was a Eskomo three point parade as they hit 16 three pointers in the win, but on Wednesday night it was more conventional as the Eskomos only made four three-pointers on the night, but it was senior captain Jake Stainbrook scoring 28 points to lead the Eskomos to the opening round win.

Stainbrook finished 11-23 from the field as the Eskomos rolled to the 25 point win. Stainbrook also added 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 steals on the night in an all around performance in the win. Esko jumped out to a first half lead of 32-29. The three point lead didn’t sit well with the Eskomos as they outscored the Dragons in the second half by a 45-23 margin. Pine City shot the ball well in the first half which allowed the game to remain close at the break.

The Eskomos Marc Peterson followed Stainbrook in scoring on Wednesday as he finished with 15 points including a couple of key 3-pointers in the second half. Jackson Lindquist added 14, Jared Harms and Adam Eskuri each finished with 8, Sean Peterson and Andrew Wendland both finished with 2 points each for the Eskomos. The Dragons were lead by Brickre Fischer who finished with 18 points in the loss, Fischer also added 8 rebounds for the Dragons.

The Eskomos improve to 21-6 on the season and they will be in quarterfinal action on Saturday night when the face the number two seed, Braham in the first game on Saturday night. The night cap at UMD will start at 6pm with the Esko Braham matchup, and the winner of that game will face either Virginia or Duluth Marshall. The Hilltoppers and the Blue Devils play at 7:45 pm.

The Braham Bombers advanced to the quarterfinals with a 64-32 win over the Hinckley-Finlayson Jaguars at home Wednesday night. The Dragons will finish their season with an overall record of 9-18. The other four teams advancing to the section quarterfinals are Moose Lake-Willow River, Mora, Deer River and International Falls, all who won opening round match-ups on Wednesday night.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com