Boys basketball: Osakis handles LPGE, WCA beats BOLD

The Osakis boys basketball team increased its winning streak to five on Friday after scoring a season-high 85 points in a 22-point over Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (12-11, 4-6 Prairie).

“We had a great shooting night from Isaac [Maddock] and Mekai [Hoelscher] in the first half against their zone, which really opened things up for us,” Osakis head coach Matt Hoelscher said. “Our guys moved the ball well offensively, they attacked, gaps, and we were able to hit Kyle [Mages] in the high post, who then made great decisions by finding open shooters/cutters or by going to the basket.'

Kyle Mages, Mekai Hoelscher, and Stewart Jones both finished with 17 points on the night, while Maddock finished with 16.

“Stewart was aggressive, and he gave us some more highlights with a few dunks; Seth [Staloch] played great as he had to eat up more minutes as guys had foul trouble, and Marcus [Wolf] used his energy to get some deflections and steals,” Coach Hoelscher said. “We did struggle defensively as we were sluggish getting to closeouts or by allowing LPGE to post up without much resistance, but we still found a way to win, and now we need to get mentally and physically prepared for Sauk Centre.”

Osakis (18-5, 8-2 Prairie) hosts its final home game of the regular season on Saturday against Sauk Centre (16-7, 4-1 Section 6AA) at 6:30 p.m.

LPGE - 37 26 - 63

Osakis - 52 33 - 85 

OSAKIS TEAM STATS - FG - 34-59; 3-PT - 14-33; FT - 1-3; Assists - 20; Blocks - 6; Rebounds - 27; Steals - 11; Deflections - 9; Fouls - 14; Turnovers - 14

OSAKIS PLAYER STATS - Blake Bouldin - 1 rebound, 1 deflection; Stewart Jones - 17 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 deflections; Grant Mages - 1 assist, 1 rebound; Ben Berger - 1 assist; Seth Staloch - 9 points, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 6 rebounds, 1 steal; Isaac Maddock - 16 points, 2 assists, 1 block, 4 rebounds, 2 steals; Kyle Mages - 17 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 deflections; Drew Imdieke - 3 points, 4 assists, 3 steals; Jacob Johanson - 2 points, 2 rebounds; Tyler Baumgarten - 1 rebound; Marcus Wolf - 2 points, 3 blocks, 1 rebound, 2 deflections; Mekai Hoelscher - 17 points, 2 rebounds, 1 deflection; Maverick Roering - 1 rebound, 1 deflection

The West Central Area Knights held a 34-30 lead at halftime against BOLD on Friday and, with a dominant second half, earned a 30-point win.

WCA outscored BOLD (16-8) 40-14 in the second half.

"That was probably the most complete basketball game we've played this year,” WCA head coach Kraig Hunter said. "Our defense is trusting each other playing together and was very active forcing 20 turnovers. This was the best rebounding effort we've had all year, with a 43-25 rebounding advantage. 18 offensive rebounds and 20 forced turnovers gave us a lot more possessions. They are a big team that pounded us with their physicality last time, so that says a lot about the improvement of our kids' effort from the last time we played them. That was probably the best thing on the offensive end. The kids were all playing for each other. They're all sacrificing for the good of the team, and we had a lot of assisted baskets for the third game in a row now."

All 17 Knights that dressed for the game played on Friday.

The Knights were stout defensively, holding the Warriors 44 percent shooting (20-48, 3-15 3-pt). The Knights made 30-of-67 shots (9-25 3-pt).

Jacob Strunk finished with 21 points, six rebounds, and three steals, while Ben Bye had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting with eight rebounds and two steals. Bryce Kjesbo had 11 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals, while Mitch Dewey had 11 points, three assists, two rebounds, and two steals.

Cam Anderson finished with nine points, three assists, and two rebounds, while Cole Anderson added seven points, five assists, and five rebounds. Sam Hanson finished with three points, while Isaac Kreft had two points and two rebounds, Nasir Dotts had three steals, and Brett Amundson had two rebounds.

WCA (17-7) rounds out the regular season with a trip to Hancock (11-10) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

BOYS BASKETBALL -
Alexandria (18-4), 75, Monticello (1-24), 60
Frazee (6-15) 63, Ashby (5-15) 52
Parkers Prairie (10-11) 60, New York Mills (2-23) 40

GIRLS BASKETBALL -
Battle Lake (5-21) 66, Ashby (1-23) 29
Parkers Prairie (11-14) 47, Rothsay (12-11) 43
Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (20-4) 78, Osakis (11-13) 41
Melrose (4-20), 45; Brandon-Evansville (9-17) 42