Loss Closes Out An Era At AlBrook-Cotton

Wes Vork-NSO

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Mar 12

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The AlBrook-Cotton Falcons were seeking to repeat last season’s playoff run and return to the section championship game, but again the Falcons ran into a hot team with an outstanding player that prevented the Falcons one last shot at glory. This went down as the Falcons last game in school history as the Lions defeated the Falcons by a final score of 75-62.

The Lions jumped out to an early first half lead, behind the state’s leading scorer in Anders Broman, as the Falcons found themselves trailing Lakeview Christian Academy 41-24 at halftime as Duluth East High School. The Falcons, the number five seed from the south subsection had knocked off Silver Bay on Thursday night to advance to the section quarterfinals.

The Section 7A tournament thus far has seen its share of upsets in the section playoffs. Mesabi East the number seven seed has upset Ely and Orr to advance to the section semi-finals Wednesday night at UMD. Fond du Lac has also been upset minded as they knocked off both Cook County and Cherry to advance to face Chisholm on Wednesday night.

The Falcons tried to mount a comeback in the second half, but the Lions stayed on course with AlBrook-Cotton and defeated the Falcons by 13 points. These two teams had battled to an eight point LCA victory back in January and the fans were treated to another close battle featuring two outstanding performances on Saturday night.

The Falcons were led by Bryce Karppinen, who finished with 26 points on the night including two three-pointers. Kory Saver finished with 13; he also hit three long range bombs for the Falcons. Dan Wood and Ryan Smith each chipped in with 8 points, Dominic Janke added 4, and Chase Miller ended the Falcons scoring with 3 points.

The Lions were led by Anders Broman, who finished with 39 points for the Lions. Luke Borchardt added 13, Bjorn Broman chipped in with 12, Andrew Ross added 6, and it was Josh Plys closing the scoring with 5 points in the Lions victory. Lakeview Christian Academy improves to 27-1 on the season. Their only loss was a 67-64 contest against Heritage Christian Academy on Jan 29.

The Falcons will end the 2010-2011 boys basketball season with a 12-13 record overall. This will be the last year for AlBrook and Cotton schools respectively; the new school is scheduled to open this fall.

The Falcons will lose five players to graduation, Bryce Karppinen, Kory Saver, Brandon Johnson, Dean Fischer, and Ryan Smith. Northland Sports Online would like to thank all five seniors for all of their hard work and dedication throughout the years and wish them good luck in the future.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com