LCA Falls In State Tournament Action

Mar 22, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Jaguars jumped out fast on Thursday morning in the Minnesota Boys Class A basketball tournament at Williams Arena as the Jaguars defeated the Lakeview Christian Academy Lions 85-76 to advance to the state semi-finals Friday at Target Center.

The Jaguars, who finished second a season ago in the state tournament, are hoping to make it a state championship to go along with the state number one ranking they have had this season. The Jaguars took advantage of poor shooting by the Lions as they jumped out to an early first half lead.

Lions junior scoring phenom Anders Broman who was suffering from the flu and strep throat this week was held to only one basket in the first half but was 6-7 from the free throw line in the first half. LCA started off slowly from the field Thursday found themselves down by 19 points.

Broman, who was cold from the field in the first half saw the Lions work their way back into the game after trailing 36-19. With a little over five minutes left in the first half the Lions closed with a 20-11 run to cut the lead to 47-39 at halftime.

Bjorn Broman and Josh Plys led the way in the first way as Bjorn scored 16 first half points and Plys scored 12 on four 3-pointers in the half. The first five minutes of the second half saw the Lions come out strong as they cut the lead to one point at 54-53.

After cutting the Jaguars lead to one point, a 3-pointer by the Jaguars Billy Borgerding ended all hopes of a Lions comeback as the state’s top ranked team quickly built up a double digit lead that the Lions were unable to come back from.

The Lions, who shot the ball extremely well all season long, saw the Jaguars finish shooting 54% from the floor Thursday; while LCA could only shoot 34% for the contest. Anders Broman finished with 18 points for the game and finished the season with a state record 1311 points.

Bjorn Broman led the Lions with 19 points overall, while Anders Broman and Josh Plys each scored 18 points. Luke Brochardt scored 12 points, Adam Fuchs added 7, and Ethan Lawler scored 2 points for the Lions who finish the season 25-6 overall.

The Jaguars were led by sophomore guard Brian Goodwin, who scored 25 points. Connor Goodwin added 24, and Borgerding finished with 18 for the Jaguars who improve to 31-0 and they will face Mt. Lake/Butterfield-Odin in the state semi-finals.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com