Trailing by only four points at halftime to the No. 4 seed Little Falls squad on the road, the No. 5 Detroit Lakes boys' basketball team wasn't in half bad shape, considering they weren't playing their best ball in the first half.
But a three-pointer to end the first half and a trey to open the second by the Flyers, ultimately forced the walls to crash in on the Lakers, as the host Little Falls team pulled away for a 66-52 victory.
The loss snapped the five-game winning streak DL had to end the regular season, but more importantly, it ended the Lakers' season with a final record of 10-16.
"When they were able to end the first half with an NBA three-pointer to make it a four-point lead instead of one at halftime, and then start the second half with a three for a seven-point lead, that was a blow to us," said DL head coach Robb Flint of seeing his team's deficit grow from one point to seven in literally a matter of seconds.
Little Falls' Ronnie Korn-baum paced the Flyers by scoring 10 of his team-high 19 points in the first half.
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That led Flint to do some adjustments at halftime, switching his best defensive player -- senior Chris Gilson -- to Kornbaum.
But the key to DL's loss was its poor perimeter shooting and a lack of depth, which eventually led to the breakdown of defense in the second half.
"We are not super deep, so Adam Thielen, Gilson and Reed Oistad had to play the majority of the minutes," Flint said.
"You could see some fatigue setting in defensively later in the game."
Even though the Flyers focused their defense on Thielen, the DL all-time leading scorer still went off for 25 points, with 16 of those coming in the second half and seven points coming off the free throw line.
But Little Falls allowed Thielen to get his points and shut down the rest of the Laker shooters.
"They really didn't respect our outside game, so they packed it in," Flint said. "And we didn't shoot well from the floor, by going just 9-for-29 from the perimeter in the first half."
DL also struggled from the three-point arc, going just 3-17 for the game.
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DL's second-leading scorer was Oistad with nine points, all coming in the first half.
The way the game was called by the officials also favored Little Falls a little. The refs did allow physical play go on, thus limiting the Lakers' strength of driving to the hoop.
The Flyers also had the luxury of having more than one shooter being hot. Dan Kornbaum finished with 13 points, including five field goals, while Alex Scott drained a trio of three's to key his 12 points.
"Little Falls is a good shooting team," Flint said.
"I think if we could have shot like we did against Thief River Falls (in the regular season finale win), we would have been fine."
Freshman Josh Stalberger provided a spark in the second half, as the 6-4 forward gave the Lakers an inside presence. He finished with six points, all in the second half.
"He gave us a boost by scoring from the block," Flint added.
Little Falls also took advantage of its free throws, going 13-15, while DL was 17-24.
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The Flyers played No. 1 seeded Thief River Falls Saturday at St. Cloud State University in the semifinal game. The Prowlers survived a scare by the last-seeded Fergus Falls Otters, after a TRF player banked in a three-point shot at the buzzer from midcourt to prevent an overtime period from happening.
It was a good run for the Lakers, despite the first-round exit, Flint said, after DL won seven of its final nine games.
"I'm proud of this team for the way they ended the season," the first-year DL coach said.
Laker results
Section 8-3A playoffs: (5) Detroit Lakes at (4) Little Falls, Thursday, March 13.
Lakers 24 28 - 52
Flyers 28 38 - 66
Scoring (2-3-ftm-fta-pts)
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DL: Ryan Kuehne 0-1-0-0-3; Adam Thielen 6-1-10-14-25; Jarod Griffith 1-0-2-2-4; Chris Gilson 2-0-0-0-4; Reed Oistad 2-1-2-2-9; Josh Stalberger 2-0-2-4-6; Zane Kotschevar 0-0-1-2-1. Team: 13-3-17-24-52.
LF: Alex Scott 1-3-1-2-12; John Dunlap 0-0-2-2-2; Nick Erdrich 1-1-5-5-10; Dan Kornbaum 5-0-3-4-13; Ronnie Kornbaum 9-0-1-1-19; Ethan Mustanen 1-1-0-0-5; Zach Horejsi 2-0-1-1-5. Team: 19-5-13-15-66.
