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Heading into the halftime of its game against the West Central Area Knights, the Battle Lake Boys basketball team had the momentum as it went on a 14-4 run to end the first half and led 34-24 at halftime.
The Knights battled back to take the lead, 65-64, with 28 seconds left, but Battlers regained the lead, 66-65, with 16 seconds left.
Cole Anderson sank the game-winning shot with 2.1 seconds left which gave the Knights the 67-66 win on Wednesday at the Minnesota National Bank Holiday Classic in Pelican Rapids.
“For us to win that game with them making fourteen threes is a testament to our kids,” WCA head coach Kraig Hunter said. “Hats off to Battle Lake. They are a team that is big, athletic and has multiple shooters. They played a great game."
The Knights trailed by as much as nine in the final two minutes of the game.
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"Our kids were scrapping and working to come back," Anderson said. "We’d get it to five points on several occasions and Battle Lake would come back and knock down more threes. Our team doesn’t have a lot of size, but they are winners and they believe. They are smart and poised. We made a lot of clutch plays on both ends in the last two or three minutes.”
Anderson had a double-double, 19 points and 10 rebounds. Bryce Kjesbo had 16 points and four rebounds in Wednesday’s game.
Jacob Strunk led the team in steals with five and he had four assists, as well as knocking down clutch three-pointers, along with Nas Dotts and Mitch Dewey. Strunk had 12 points and six rebounds, while Dotts had nine points on 3-of-3 shooting from the three-point line.
Dewey had six points and four assists. Ben Bye added four points and two rebounds, while Brett Amundson had one point and two rebounds, while Sam Hanson had two rebounds and two points.
With the win, WCA (5-1) advanced to the championship game where it’ll face Pelican Rapids (6-1) at 7:30 p.m.
