Feb. 13—BEMIDJI — Fosston's Jack Sekely was unconscious Friday afternoon.
Like prime Steph Curry, he couldn't stop making shots from long range against the Cass Lake-Bena boys basketball team. He made five 3-pointers in the first half and four in the second, ending the day with nine — yes, nine — shots from above the arc.
It contributed to a 78-68 win for the Greyhounds at the 218 Sports Showcase at the Sanford Center.
Sekely was one of the best 3-point shooters CLB has faced this season, head coach Alvin Wind said. When he got hot, it was almost impossible to stop him.
"The kid was a good shooter," Wind said. "There were times we were right there, right in his face, and he still hit them."
Sekely ended the day with 31 points. He made two free throws and one 2-pointer, the rest coming from long range.
He and the Greyhounds leapt out to a 14-2 lead to begin the game, where Sekely got his first three 3-pointers. CLB eventually found their footing offensively, getting it as close as 26-22, but Fosston eventually took a 43-35 lead into halftime.
CLB started the second half a lot like the girls team
just a few hours earlier,
going on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 43-43.
The Panthers' play out of the half was true to CLB's philosophy, Wind said.
"The big thing that we're trying to do as a coaching staff and as a team is try to be consistent and try to have discipline," he said. "We're working the ball around. We're running our offense. A lot of times, you've got a couple guys that are just pure shooters. We also need to work within a structure."
It'd be the closest the game would get, as the Greyhounds would retake their lead and never look back.
Friday was CLB's third game in six days. Late in the second half, its exhaustion began to show, Wind said.
Fourteen of its last 16 points were scored by one player: junior Doug Cloud.
"We're tired, our legs are tired," he said. "It's just a lot of things. We have a young team, a lot of things we have to work on."
Cloud has been the Panthers' rock offensively, and Friday was no different. He scored 29 points, including three 3-pointers.
"He's a shooter," Wind said of Cloud. "He's going to get his points. The thing, though, is to get other people around him better. That's a job that we're trying to make him realize that and understand that. Little by little, I think we're making progress."
Both Fosston and Cass Lake-Bena are experiencing off years, with eight wins between the two before Friday's contest. After Friday's loss, the Panthers are sitting at 6-15 on the season.
Both programs have inexperienced lineups. Fosston lacks depth, with all but one of its points scored by its starting five. Meanwhile, CLB's only upperclassmen are two seniors (who haven't had a lot of playing time until this season) and one junior.
Eventually, the Panthers will have more experience as time goes on, but until then, they have to navigate through a lot of learning and growing pains.
"We've got really good players in our seventh and eighth-grade programs coming up," Wind said. "Even our fifth and sixth-grade (programs), we've got some players that are coming up. Again, it's promising. But I think we're just going through a time where people are stepping in.
"They're going to make their mistakes, we're trying to make them feel comfortable. Hopefully they do that now, and then when they become sophomores next year, it'll be so much better."
One thing Wind would like to improve on is rebounding and turnovers. There were multiple moments in Friday's contest where Fosston kept offensive possessions alive by dominating the glass.
"When we had some wins, we looked at our turnovers and they were low," he said. "The games that we were getting beat, we had a lot of turnovers in them. A couple of those games, we got out-rebounded (too). That's a big thing, fundamental things. We're still working on that."
Fosston 78, Cass Lake-Bena 68
FOS 43 35 — 78
CLB 35 33 — 68
Fosston — Sekely 31, Curfman 16, Howard 11, Holzer 10, Lundell 9, Nyland 1.
Cass Lake-Bena — Cloud 29, Wind 16, Fowler 8, Reyes 4, Washington 3, Seeyle 2, Kingbird 2.