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The Wildcats hosted one of the best teams in the state Tuesday, December 12. The CL boys played hard, but, on this night, they were no match for the Red Knights from Benilde-St. Margaret’s.

The Knights applied intense defensive pressure and the Wildcats were forced into numerous early turnovers. As a result, CL wasn’t able to get many good looks. More than four minutes elapsed before the Wildcats were able to get on the scoreboard.

By that time, Benilde had scored from nearly every spot on the floor and had built a 12-0 lead. A Taylor Jones hoop gave the ‘Cats their first two at the 13:45 mark. Less than a minute later, Jones was fouled on a field goal attempt. He made both of his freethrows and it looked like the home team might have a chance to make it a game.

However, with a 12-4 lead, the tall and talented Benilde team went on another scoring binge, outscoring the Wildcats 12-5 over the next three minutes. With ten minutes remaining, the score was 24-9 and the Wildcats had only scored twice from the field.

Midway through the half, the Wildcats started to get some offensive rebounds which led to some second chances. But, the size of the Red Knights, who have five players between 6’5” and 6’7,” made the ‘Cats work for every board. “We rebounded pretty well, considering the difference in size,” said Chisago Lakes head coach Herb Jangor.

The CL defense forced Benilde outside the arc, but even that failed to slow them much. Before the end of the half, the Knights had buried four three-pointers as they built a 49-21 lead. Josh Figini was the only ‘Cat able to cash in consistently on the offensive end. He scored seven first half points including five from the freethrow line. “We shot pretty well from the line,” Jangor added, referring to the Wildcats’ 19 of 26 performance from the stripe.

CL played better in the second half, but couldn’t make up any ground. Benilde outscored the ‘Cats 39-27 in the half on the way to the 40 point win.

“We were flat. They brought their ‘A’ game and we didn’t have ours. That’s about as good a team as I’ve seen in a while,” Jangor commented. “They were able to knock us out. We’ve just gotta get up off the canvas and come back. We’ll work hard and try to get better. We don’t have any quitters. We’ll be alright. Taylor Jones played well for us and Scott Leigh got aggressive on offense for us in the second half.

“Right now, Benilde and Cooper are head and shoulders above the rest of the teams in the conference. The test will be to see who’s gonna be able to get close to them,” the coach said.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s

49 39 88

Chisago Lakes 21 27 48

Chisago Lakes Scoring

Kyle Hogie 2

Tyler Bouwens 6

Chris Golv 5

Scott Leigh 10

Taylor Jones 9

Zach Sill 4

Josh Figini 7

Joe Knafla 5

Total 48

Chisago Lakes at St. Francis

The Wildcats outscored the Saints 38-17 in the first half and cruised to a 64-44 win at St. Francis Friday, December 15.

“We jumped on ‘em with our defensive pressure right away and that fueled our offense,” said Wildcat head coach Herb Jangor. The coach felt that his team played its best half of the season before the intermission.

“Zach Sill was on the way to his best game of the year when he got hurt,” Jangor said. Sill scored nine points before he left the game with an ankle injury shortly after the midway point of the first half. “He looked like the Zach Sill we expected to see this year. He probably could have played, but we didn’t want to take a chance so early in the season.”

Jangor felt the victory was a real team win. “Tyler Bouwens had his best game of the year. He had seven assists, but could have easily have been in double figures if we’d done a better job of finishing. When we got out and ran, Tyler found the open man, especially Figini and Knafla, who did a good job of running the floor,” the coach said. “And, Taylor Jones had another nice game with 11 points and five assists.”

The Saints closed the gap in the second half, but never cut the lead to single figures. “In the second half, they went to a zone. We moved the ball well and we got good shots, but they didn’t fall.

“But, every time we needed a big basket, we’d get a steal and a layup. Golv’s (Chris) defensive pressure was really important for us. It really came down to our defensive intensity. We’d shut them down every time they made a run. The only disappointment was that they outrebounded us. That probably wouldn’t happen with Zach (Sill) in the game,” Jangor added.

Chisago Lakes 38 26 64

St. Francis 17 27 44

Chisago Lakes scoring

Eric Reed 2

Tyler Bouwens 2

Scott Leigh 2

Brian Jennissen 5

Hunter 2

Taylor Jones 11

Zach Sill 9

Josh Figini 21

Joe Knafla 8

Total 64

The ‘Cats play at Irondale Friday, December 22 before hosting their Holiday Tournament December 28 and 29. Games a scheduled for 6:00 and 7:45 p.m.

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