Cloquet Comes Up Just Short Against Superior

Wes Vork-NSO

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Feb 26

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

CLOQUET – The Cloquet Lumberjacks missed a golden opportunity Friday night when they faced the Superior Spartans. The Lumberjacks were looking to spoil the Spartans trip to Cloquet, but in the end the Spartans pulled out of town with a 75-70 win.

Cloquet opened up the first with a nice run in which they built a small five point (14-9) lead. The Spartans bounced right back and they would keep firing and eventually lead at half time 39-32.

The Spartans continued in the beginning of the second half to try to extend the lead, but the Lumberjacks fought right back. With 10:31 remaining, the Lumberjacks took the lead on a basket by Chad Calcaterra and with a free throw of that basket gave Cloquet the lead.

The lead was short lived which, down the stretch, saw the Spartans and Jacks have five more lead changes and seven ties. This lasted until, with 3:13 remaining, Superior’s Joel Lindberg put Superior ahead for good. Cloquet had chances and, with 39 seconds remaining and trailing by one point, a shot went in and out for the Lumberjacks. That was the last of the Cloquet run as Superior sank free throws in the last thirty seconds to ensure the win.

Cloquet was led in scoring by Calcaterra with 27 points on the night. Andy Wappes scored 17, RaRa Jones added 9, Tim Defoe and Peter LaCourse each chipped in with 7 and Connor Stowell ended with 3. Joel Lindberg scored 28 for Superior, Rob Kraft added 23 points, and Josh Kimmes poured in 13 in the win.

Cloquet falls to 15-9 on the season and will be in action on Wednesday night in Grand Rapids to face the section leading Thunderhawks. Superior improves to 19-3 on the season and is the Lake Superior Conference Champion for the fourth straight season.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com