The Alma-Pepin Eagles played the Blair-Taylor Wildcats last Tuesday Night. The Eagles won with a score of 75-73 in the extremely close game to move them on to the Regional Semi Finals.
The game started with a back and forth battle between Ethan Knisley’s defensive fast breaks and Keegan Stiehl’s post move abilities. Along with Keegan’s fade away jumpers, he was crashing the boards to give him 13 rebounds. The game was the definition of a seesaw. At the end of the first half, the Wildcats took the lead by two making the score 33-31.
The beginning of the second half was flat with no teams scoring until Blair made it to the free throw line and put both of them in the basket to increase their lead to 35-31. Eagles players and fans did not give up though when Keegan Stiehl knocked down a three pointer to reduce Blair’s lead. From there on, the Eagles kept trailing by a point or two. A/P finally took the lead with a Cainnin Mann three pointer to make the score 54-51. The Eagles kept building their lead until Blair came back just before the end of the game. A couple baskets later, the score was 66-64 with the Wildcats in control. Then with 20 seconds left in regulation, Evan Olson knocked down a jump shot to bring the game into overtime with a score of 66-66.
The battle continued in overtime. The score was tied at 73-73 for what seemed to be an eternity. Finally, with five seconds left in overtime, Evan Olson drove to the basket and banked it in to win the game 75-73 Eagles. 27 of the Eagles 75 points were scored by Keegan Stiehl, which made him the leading scorer.
The Eagles played the Royal Panthers on Friday March first. The Eagles unfortunately lost with a score of 63-39.
After coming off a big win, the Eagles were looking forward to their next battle all the way down in Elroy, Wisconsin. The game started off strong with Eagles Jameson Riesgraf’s jump shot bucket. The Panthers then took advantage of running up the court to raise their lead to 7–11. The Eagles couldn’t get back in the game when Ben Crneckly kept making his three point shots. At the end of the half the Eagles were down 15-29.
Coming into the second half, the Eagles prayed to get some shots to fall. To no avail, the Eagles came up short. The Panthers kept increasing their lead more and more. Finally Jackson Riesgraf made a three pointer, but this didn’t have any effect on helping the score. At the end of the game, the Royal Panthers won with a score of 63-39, moving them on to play the C-FC Pirates in the Royal gym the following night.