DETROIT LAKES- Detroit Lakes boys basketball head coach Brett Maass called a timeout that flipped the script on Saturday during a Section 8-3A battle against Willmar.
The Lakers broke the huddle and sank four straight threes to tie the game in the second half. The run fueled the Lakers past the Cardinals to an 80-75 victory.
Junior guard Mason Carrier, the game’s leading scorer with 35 points, said his coach set the team straight, and the boys listened.
“He told us our defense was slow and that we weren’t bringing the energy that we could,” Carrier said. “This is the most energetic team that you are going to find. All of us have been playing together since second grade, so it’s really awesome. We all looked at each other in that huddle, and we looked at Will Martin, who is a great junior leader. He gave us a great breakdown. We went out there. We didn’t say anything. We did what he told us to do – hit four straight threes, and that's what brought us back into the game.”
Maass wasn’t happy with the energy his team was playing with for the first half and part of the second. However, he appreciated his team’s mettle to pull out a hard-fought win.
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“Our team showed a lot of grit,” Maas said. “We were dead in the water, down 12 late in the second half. We just weren’t playing with much energy. Willmar was making shots. I called a timeout with about eight to nine minutes left to rally back together. I have to credit our kids for buckling down and realizing we have to bring it at all points of every game. We can’t just go through the motions. We hit some big shots. Making four threes in a row, and that sealed the deal.”
In the last eight and a half minutes, the Lakers outscored the Cardinals 28-11.
“It gave our kids confidence and energy,” Maass said of getting defensive stops. “When you make shots, you start to play more defense. It all started on the defensive end. We weren’t working hard enough and going through the motions. We started to get stops and hit shots which are a big boost in energy.”
Carrier believed the victory against a good Willmar team will set the tone for the Lakers in a tough upcoming stretch.
“Beating this team brings our hopes up,” he said. “We know what we can do now, and we know who we can be. We have beat Bemidji, and we have beat this team, who are both great basketball teams. I don’t see anyone stopping us when we are playing at our best.”
It wasn’t just Mason Carrier who contributed to the win. Senior Ethan Carrier finished with 17 points. Junior Devon Berg was the team’s third-highest scorer with 15 points.
The Lakers’ defense was good enough to squeak away with the victory. Maass wasn’t happy with Detroit Lakes getting in foul trouble. He wants to see better movement on the defensive end.
“Willmar is a good basketball team with good players,” Maass said. “They are experienced and have been playing a lot. They got a good coach who runs good stuff. It is tough to get stops when you play teams like that. We definitely need to work on playing with our feet, not our hands. Fouled a little too much, which has been something we've been doing all year. We have to stay on our feet, play on our feet, not be reaching and not be fouling, giving the other team free throws.”
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Detroit Lakes improved to 5-4 overall and 3-1 in section play. Willmar falls to 4-4 overall.
DL 40 40- 80
WIL 37 38- 75
DETROIT LAKES- Ethan Carrier: 17 points, Devon Berg: 15 points, Oliver Quam: 6 points, Mason Carrier: 35 points, Brandton Marsh: 7 points
WILLMAR- Jason Streed: 3 points, Maxwell Mobley: 10 points, Nathan Marthaler: 6 points, Simon Radermacher: 9 points, Tyler Kowalczyk: 2 points, Blake Schoolmeester: 13 points, Khalid Muhumed: 16 points, Samuel Raitz: 16 points
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