Area boys' basketball playoff scores on March 9:
Annandale 75, Maple Lake 40
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 72, Glencoe-Silver Lake 64
Albany 76, Sauk Centre 65
Dawson-Boyd 61, MACCRAY 37
Battle Lake 78, C-G-B 44
Browerville 65, Verndale 60 (Whew! Pirates give the Tigers a scare)
St. Cloud Cathedral 50, Kimball Area 31
Upsala 72, Nevis 57
Litchfield 52, Eden Valley-Watkins 21
Ulen-Hitterdal 39, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 35
SW MN Christian 77, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 58
Ada-Borup 74, Park Christian 65 Melrose Area 63, LP-GE 60 (Scottie Stone drills a 3' right before the final buzzer for the W)
So back to the shocking loss. I wondered all year long if Connor Goodwin graduating would catch up to us...and tonight it definitely caught up to us. In my opinion we got enough production in the paint tonight, but if Connor was down there he would've drawn more attention from the defense and made it a little easier for our outside shooters. And I can't forget Kirby Montbriand, he was one tough player and brought his own share of points to the table. The name of the game in playoff basketball is being physically tough. Being able to handle physical defense. And getting the rebound after you miss a shot. I keep replaying in my mind numerous times where W/H-N got a defensive rebound that should have instead been another field goal shot for the Jaguars. It's still perplexing...the fire I saw in the eyes of our players while they were taking apart countless conference teams (Kimball, Pierz, etc.) was definitely lacking tonight. Don't mis-read what I am saying and think that I'm saying the Jaguars weren't tough enough this year. By all means, we took a lot of shots from many teams this year and came out winners on 25 of 27 nights. But if our team wasn't as physically tough last year as they were, we certainly lose to SW MN Christian and settle for 2nd two years in a row, and we possibly could have gone 0-1 with a quarterfinal loss to Lakeview Christian.
One other thing people don't think of too readily about the two players I mentioned is that they were All-Central Minnesota Conference linemen on the 2011 Jaguar football team, a team that arguably had the best offensive line in the conference. They were very physically tough...next year, we will have to be very physically tough if we're going to have a shot at winning state.
Go after it! Next December will be here before we know it.
At the end of the day what I want our B-B-E community to reflect on is how extremely valuable it is to raise students and student-athletes who are able to handle tough times. That isn't something that just happens. It takes good parents, good neighbors, and good people in general to do that. We've been through quite a bit this year, still reeling from the loss of Coach Vos. I was very impressed with how our players and our fans handled themselves after the final horn sounded tonight. Do we always exhibit perfect behavior? No, and I myself certainly don't either. What B-B-E coaches instill in our student-athletes is 'you win with class and you lose with class.' That means more than just about anything in high school sports. Believe this: I would want nothing to do with B-B-E if there was even a part of the garbage attitudes and selfish ways that I've seen at other communities in central Minnesota. I've seen and heard more than enough of that around the area, and I am glad to say that I am not from those communities. I am very proud to be a part of the B-B-E community, which has special and valuable qualities that should never be taken for granted. B-B-E parents: keep up the great work!!! And it is definitely work, and it needs to be applauded.
I'll part with these words, lifted from the Facebook wall:
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