Two weeks ago, the Detroit Lakes boys' basketball team wasn't even sniffing to get out of the Section 8-3A cellar.
But the Lakers are slowly, but surely, climbing out of that dank cellar by winning three games in a row and their last five of seven, giving DL an 8-15 record.
"Two weeks ago, I didn't think there was a way we'd not be the No. 8 seed," said DL head coach Robb Flint. "Now, if we can get some help and win our last two games, we have a chance at the No. 4 seed and hosting a playoff game."
The emergence of the Lakers can be credited to a one-two punch of senior guards Adam Thielen and Chris Gilson.
Thielen has basically been unstoppable offensively, while Gilson has been a wall defensively.
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The lethal combination was evident again Friday, as the Lakers tore through the visiting Park Rapids Panthers 73-53.
Thielen broke his DLHS single-game scoring record, exploding for 42 points -- 28 of them in the second half -- while Gilson shut down Park Rapids' leading scorer Grant Dierkhising, holding him to eight points, after he'd been averaging just over 20 points per game.
The Panthers stayed close in the first half, trailing 27-20 at halftime, but a healthy dose of Thielen quickly separated the two teams on the scoreboard.
"Adam was just driving to the rim and they couldn't stop him, so he just started attacking the basket," Flint said.
Thielen -- who is already the all-time leading scorer in Laker history -- is going to make it difficult for any future DL player to reach the level he is at right now.
The DL senior already has scored over 25-plus points in a game five times, including totals of 27, 32, 38, 40 (his first single-game record) and now 42 points.
With Thielen's 28 points in the second half alone, DL outscored the Panthers by a 46-33 margin in that time span for the runaway victory, giving DL the section's longest current winning streak at three.
Junior guard Reed Oistad contributed nine points in the triumph, as well.
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The Lakers will play at Crookston (7-17) and end the season at home against section-leading Thief River Falls (17-6) Friday inside Ralph Anderson Gym.
Laker results
Park Rapids at Detroit Lakes, Friday, Feb. 29.
Panthers 20 33 - 53
Lakers 27 46 - 73
Scoring (2-3-ftm-fta-pts)
DL: Max Knoll 1-0-1-2-3; Ryan Kuehne 1-0-0-0-2; Adam Thielen 15-1-9-13-42; Jarod Griffith 1-0-0-0-2; Chris Gilson 2-0-1-2-5; Mike Beeson 0-0-2-2-2; Reed Oistad 2-1-2-2-9; Zane Kotschevar 1-0-2-4-4; Eddie Taylor 2-0-0-0-4. Team: 25-2-17-23-73.
PR: Tom Juberran 9-0-1-1-19; Grant Dierkhising 2-0-4-5-8; Eli Donatelle 2-0-0-0-4; Dylan Walsh 1-0-0-0-2; Thor Jorgenson 1-0-0-0-2; Roth Matson 0-2-0-0-6; Dylan Sievers 5-0-0-1-10; Kevin Vaadland 1-0-0-0-2. Team: 21-2-5-8-53.
