Cloquet Boys Fall In First Round To Denfeld

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Mar 9, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Duluth Denfeld Hunters had beaten Cloquet impressively twice earlier this season and they did it again a third time on Friday night as the Hunters defeated the Lumberjacks 82-39 in the Section 7AAA quarterfinals at Denfeld High School.

The Hunters defeated Cloquet 84-35 in January at Denfeld, and 76-48 at Cloquet in February; jumped out fast in the first half as they rolled to 19 point 43-24 lead at the break.

The Hunters who shot 54% from the field in the first half connected on five 3-pointers which helped create the huge halftime lead. The Hunters opened up with a 10-0 before Cloquet got on the score board from a Dillon Johnson basket.

The Lumberjacks then saw the Hunters score eight straight points to make it an 18-2 lead before Sean Ferrell connected for Cloquet. Denfeld and Cloquet would trade baskets and battle evenly the rest of the first half.

Denfeld came out in the second half and started extending their lead immediately as Denfeld went on a 30-8 run to give Denfeld a 73-30 lead with nine minutes remaining and the game all but over. The Hunters capitalized on 33 Lumberjack turnovers Friday night which lead to 44 points off turnover for the Hunters.

The Lumberjacks were led by Adam Laine and Dillon Johnson, who both had 9 points on the night. Trent Moe and Sean Ferrell each added 8, Tanner Louhela scored 2, and it was Zach Peterson, Gavin Takkunen, and Nate Weets all finishing with 1 point for Cloquet.

The Hunters had four players in double figures including Andrew Laughlin, who finished with 23, Derek Meger added 15 points, Sam Humes finished with 12, and it was Sergei who chipped in with 11 points for Denfeld.

The Lumberjacks season ends with an overall record of 9-18 on the season and they will graduate three seniors from this year’s team; Zach Peterson, Sean Ferrell, and Trent Moe. NSO would like to wish best of success for those three and thank them for all their hard work and dedication to the Lumberjacks basketball program throughout the years.

The Hunters now advance to the section semi-finals where they will host Zimmerman at home on Tuesday night. The Hunters improve to 20-7 with the win over Cloquet. The Zimmerman and Denfeld winner will face either Hermantown or Grand Rapids.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com