By Steve Morris

The North Branch boys basketball team came within six points of beating the No. 1 rated team in class 3A last week.

On Feb. 4, the boys lost to Benidle-St. Margaret’s 80-74.

Head coach Bill Baumann admitted his squad couldn’t’ have played much better against the Red Knights.

“We played hard and we executed extremely well. We had a small lapse late in the first half and they capitalized on it but we responded and tied the game going into the half,” he said.

Senior Jake Chambers led the team with 28 points.

John Lindstrom also scored 21 points on 9 of 13 shooting

In the end, it was Wisconsin recruit Jordan Taylor who the Vikings couldn’t stop.

“... I think it was just too much Jordan Taylor,” Baumann said.

Jake Chambers 9-21 7-7 28; John Lindstrom 9-13 0-0 21; Kyle Grote 2-4 4-5 9; Ryan Norman 2-4 3-4 8; Dan Ginal 1-3 0-0 3; Bryce Hunter 0-5 2-2 2; Eric Sampson 1-2 0-0 2; Mike Dahl 0-1 1-2 1; Deon Farr 0-1 0-1 0; Kirk Dahle 0-2 0-0 0; Alex Sundly 0-0 0-0 0; Totals 24-56 17-21 74.

3-point goals-North ßranch 9-19 (John Lindstrom 3-4; Jake Chambers 3-7; Ryan Norman 1-1; Kyle Grote 1-2; Dan Ginal 1-3; Deon Farr 0-1; Kirk Dahle 0-1) , BSM 5-16 (BSM 5-16) . Fouled out--North ßranch-Eric Sampson, BSM-None. Rebounds-North ßranch 33 (John Lindstrom 6) , BSM 32 (BSM 27) Assists-North ßranch 18 (Kirk Dahle 4) , BSM 0 () . Total Fouls-North ßranch 21, BSM .

St. Francis

Against the St. Francis Saints, the boys lost a hard-fought battle by two-points in overtime 58-60.

Chambers was the high scorer with 26 points followed by Lindstrom who finished with nine and Ryan Norman who added six.

Baumann said both teams worked hard and it was too bad someone had to lose.

“We are trying to get the kids to focus on every possession of the game and if we look back there were times early in the game we made mistakes and if we would have avoided them we never would have gone into overtime.” Baumann said.

Jake Chambers 9-17 6-10 26; John Lindstrom 4-9 0-0 10; Ryan Norman 2-7 0-0 6; Dan Ginal 2-4 0-0 6; Mike Dahl 2-7 1-2 5; Kyle Grote 1-2 1-2 3; Bryce Hunter 1-3 0-2 2; Kirk Dahle 0-2 0-0 0; Eric Sampson 0-2 0-0 0; Totals 21-53 8-16 58.

3-point goals-St. Francis 5-18 (STF 5-18) , North ßranch 8-22 (Ryan Norman 2-5; John Lindstrom 2-5; Dan Ginal 2-3; Jake Chambers 2-4; Kyle Grote 0-1; Kirk Dahle 0-2; Mike Dahl 0-2) . Fouled out--St. Francis-None, North ßranch-None. Rebounds-St. Francis 34 (STF 27) , North ßranch 38 (John Lindstrom 6; Jake Chambers 6) . Assists-St. Francis 0 () , North ßranch 14 (Kirk Dahle 3; Jake Chambers 3; Mike Dahl 3) . Total Fouls-St. Francis 15, North ßranch .

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