Cliche but...all good things come to an end

The Jaguars huddle up after the starter introductions. They are an incredibly classy, easy-going, down-to-earth bunch of young men. We are so lucky to have them in the B-B-E school system.

Final: Melrose Area 87, B-B-E 56. The Jaguars got worked tonight! This is what they've done to countless very good teams over the past 4 years. Remember MACCRAY only a few weeks ago? They have a really good team this year, and the Jaguars scorched the daylights out of them. It's okay to get a taste of it, as long as it's not at State! The outcome was reminiscent of the 2002 sub-section championship in which the Jaguars got worked over by a very fast, physical Ortonville Trojans team and lost 65-41. The first half did not go well at all on that night in Morris, while tonight the Jaguars were very competitive with Melrose. Ortonville went on to win Section 5A and compete at State, where they eventually lost to Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted in the 3rd-place game. Coincidentally, B-B-E beat HL-W-W in the final game of the regular season that year at H.H.H. Auditorium on a last-second rebound shot by Josh Eckstein.

I know one thing: I am very proud to cover this team. They are a fantastic group of young men. For the record...the direct win streak ended at 50 wins...50-0 in the last 50 games! Wow! The Jaguars had won 78 regular season games in a row dating back to February 4, 2010. A streak just a few days shy of three years! Whew! On that night they lost at Dawson-Boyd 77-72. More irony: that night was wicked cold just as tonight is! After the loss to the Blackjacks, the Jaguars reeled off 9 straight wins heading into the Sub-Section 6A-South playoffs, and after that they won every regular season game of the past two seasons. The 2010 playoffs ended in a 54-50 loss in the sub-section final to Hillcrest Lutheran Academy.

And...we all know how the playoffs went in the last two trips through Section 6A!

James Kuefler had a very strong game tonight. Shown is Kuefler going up for a coast-to-coast layup ahead of the Dutchmen defense with 9:44 left in the first half. His bucket made it Melrose 12, B-B-E 11. PHOTO BY HERMAN LENSING, Melrose Beacon

**Can't miss mentioning: Melrose senior guard Scottie Stone broke the single-game school record for points scored with 44 points. All told, he hit 8 three-pointers in the second half (possibly a state record?) and 10 overall in the game. B-B-E did a remarkable job holding him to 12 points in the first half...but the St. Cloud State University-signee went off for 32 points after halftime.

Here's the final moments of the first half... 


For the game, B-B-E shot 32% from the floor. A shooting percentage that low will make it tough to win on game night, unless you play absolutely incredible defense. Against Scottie Stone and Company tonight, that wasn't in the cards. The Dutchmen, officially, shot just over 50% (32-61) on field goals.

**Update near midnight: just saw that the B-B-E Dazzlers dance team tied for third place out of six teams at the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City invitational. A nice finish for the team as they prepare for the Section 4A playoffs this Saturday in Hawley. Other teams included are Bagley, Crosby-Ironton, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, Frazee, Pelican Rapids, Pierz, Pine River-Backus, United Clay-Becker (Hawley, Lake Park-Audubon pairing) and Mahnomen/Waubun.

And a wrestling final score tonight: Kimball Area 43, B-B-E 22.

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