DETROIT LAKES, Minn. – Fergus Falls’ senior guard Isaiah Lemke banked in a 30-foot jumper at the horn to give the undefeated No. 10 Minnesota Class 3A ranked Otters a 69-66 victory over Detroit Lakes in Section 8 boys basketball Tuesday night at Ralph Anderson Gymnasium in Detroit Lakes.
Lemke’s heave over DL’s Jacob Pazdernik bounced off the middle of the backboard square and drained without touching the rim.
“All in baby, it’s all in,” Lemke said after the win.
“I don’t know if that’s exactly the way it was drawn up, but we knew when we came in this was going to be an absolute battle,” Otters head coach Derek Abrahams said.
The game-winning basket was the 10th lead change of the second half, and capped a wild game where Fergus Falls was forced to routinely make runs to keep pace with the Lakers.
“They came out and we didn’t have an answer for them,” Abrahams said. “We just kept grinding back and what really helped was climbing back in the first half.”
“We came out and executed our game plan flawlessly early,” said Lakers head coach Robb Flint. “Our posts were scoring at will and they made adjustments – credit to them.”
Detroit Lakes opened up a double-digit lead in the opening 18 minutes, but Fergus Falls was able to claw back from 10 points down late to a 33-all tie at the break.
“We struggled at the end of the first half when they made their run,” Flint said. “We had a problem getting the ball entered and up the floor. We did a better job of that in the second half and then we were too soft on the offensive end.”
Fergus Falls used a deep bench to run a full-court defensive press the entire game and forced the Lakers to earn space on the floor while creating Lakers turnovers.
“We went nine tonight and we’ve played 10,” said Abrahams. “That’s what they want to do. They have the determination and they put the work in.”
“That’s what we do,” said Lemke.
“We had 22 turnovers and that’s way too many against a good team,” Flint said. “I know they’re going to cause some the way they play, but we’ve got to be stronger with the ball.”
Half: FF 33, DL 33
FF – Lemke 21, Rund 21, Western 9, Colbeck 8, Christensen 6, Johnson 4.
DL – Daggett 18, Richter 18, Cihak 17, Pazdernik 9, Haire 2, Singer 2.
Williams is the sports editor for the Detroit Lakes Tribune
