Lakeview Christian Academy Advances To State Tournament

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Mar 13, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Lions of Lakeview Christian Academy advanced to the state tournament Friday night with an 80-68 victory over North Woods in the Section 7A championship game in Hibbing at the Hibbing Memorial Arena. The Lions will be making their first trip to the state boys basketball tournament next week in Minneapolis.

The Lions and the Grizzlies battled their way to a 42-42 tie at halftime as this was going to be a nip and tuck battle all night long. The second half saw the Lions slowly build up a small lead over the Grizzlies as the Lions crept to a 61-52 lead with 10 minutes to play.

Lakeview Christian edged the lead higher with four minutes to play with a double digit lead of 70-59. The eleven point lead stayed near double digits as the Lions continued to thwart off the Grizzlies and any thought of a comeback.

As the one minute mark was crossed, it was the Lions leading 74-64 it seemed as if this small school was going to defeat the Grizzlies and they did just that; when the horn sounded, it was a 14 point win for the Lions.

Lakeview Christian was led by Andres Broman, who scored 45 points to add to his record single season scoring mark. Bjorn Broman had 15, Luke Borchardt added 11, Adam Fuchs scored 7, and it was Ethan Lawler finishing with 2 points on the night.

The Grizzlies were led by Jordan Villebrun who scored 23 points, Andrew Anderson chipped in with 12, Ellihjaun Dotts finished with 9, Alex Burns and Hank Halverson both scored 8 points, Dan Pelliren added 6, and Karl Riechel ended with 2 points for North Woods.

The Lions advance to the state tournament on Thursday at Williams Arena, where they will face an opponent yet to be determined by the High School League. The Class A tournament will be seeded this year for the first time in tournament history.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com