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After opening the season with a stirring come-from-behind win over Princeton, the Wildcat boys' hoops squad came down to earth with two losses last week.

CL at St. Michael-Albertville

Tuesday, December 11

At STMA, the Wildcats fell behind by 10 points at the halftime and couldn't come back against the fifth-rated Knights in a 64-54 non-conference loss.

"They were good," said Chisago Lakes head coach Herb Jangor. "They're a legit top-10 team. It was a matter of their experience versus our inexperience. They are aggressive and athletic. They'll be hard-to-beat in the Mississippi 8."

Junior center Josh Figini had another strong game, leading the Wildcats with 25 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. But his scoring couldn't match the balanced scoring of STMA, who had five players with nine or more points while only five Wildcats made it into the scoring column.

"We just didn't play hard enough in the first half," Jangor commented. "We weren't patient enough, we didn't communicate well enough on defense and we needed to be more patient on offense."

According to the coach, the Wildcats didn't take advantage of the opportunities they had. For example, he pointed out that CL converted only 12 of 22 from the freethrow line.

The Wildcats fell 14 back in the the second half before coming back to make a game of it. "Every time we got it down to six," Jangor continued, "they out-executed us. We'd go on a little 6-0 run, they'd buckle down and get a stop."

On the positive side, Jangor said, "What we lack, we can fix. Taylor Jones had another nice game and Kyle Hogie hit some shots for us. We'll get there. We have some talent. We just have to play together better as a team."

SCORING SUMMARY

STMA 32 32 64

Chisago Lakes 22 32 54

Wildcat Scoring

Eric Reed 3

Kyle Hogie 10

Mike Corradi 6

Taylor Jones 10

Josh Figini 25

Total 54

St. Francis at Chisago Lakes

The Saints outscored the Wildcats by 10 in the first half and withstood a late second-half flurry to take a 46-38 North Suburban Conference win Thursday, December 13.

After three minutes, the Wildcats held a 6-5 lead, but the Saints scored the next three baskets. When CL senior Mike Corradi hit from inside the arc, it was 11-8 St. Francis. Following a Chisago time out, the home team ramped up the defensive pressure.

That pressure slowed SF, but the Wildcat offense was generating few good looks. Almost three minutes after Corradi's hoop, senior Eric Reed stole the ball, drove to the hoop and was intentionally fouled before he could score. He made one of his freethrows, but the team failed to convert when they took possession after the penalty shots.

The Saints scored twice more before senior Kyle Hogie hit a three. That cut the SF lead to 18-12 with 3:20 left in the half. The CL offense continued to struggle, connecting on only two Figini freethrows before the intermission. At the half, St. Francis led 24-14.

Senior Evan Tienken's bomb made it 24-17 less than 30 seconds into the final session. The Saints responded with two from long range and put CL in a 13 point hole. A Hogie fast break layup and a pair of Figini freethrows cut the deficit to single digits. At 15:36, it was 30-21.

A 5-0 Saint run convinced coach Jangor to call a time out with 11:50 on the clock. When the teams returned to the floor, Figini hit two more freethrows, making the SF lead 37-23.

The two squads traded baskets for the next nine minutes. With three minutes left, the visitors still enjoyed a comfortable lead. Junior Henry Fitzpatrick, went two-for-two from the line before Reed took a pass from Taylor Jones, was fouled and converted the freethrow. The St. Francis lead was 41-32 with 2:42 left.

Junior Jake Warkel gave the CL fans something to cheer about as the seconds ticked away. His pair of late three's made it closer, but St. Francis made enough freethrows down the stretch to preserve a 46-38 NSC win.

"We got outhustled and outworked," coach Jangor said. "But, that's sports. Sometimes that happens. You can't turn the ball over 23 times and expect to win. We weren't patient enough on offense. We have to learn to play well together. We have to learn to step up as a team, not individually."

SCORING SUMMARY

St. Francis 24 22 46

Chisago Lakes 14 24 38

Wildcat Scoring

Eric Reed 4

Kyle Hogie 5

Mike Corradi 2

Taylor Jones 5

Josh Figini 8

Henry Fitzpatrick 4

Jake Warkel 7

Total 54

Before the Holiday break, the Wildcats host Irondale tonight (Thursday, December 20) at 7:15 and travel to Cambridge for a non-conference match-up with the Bluejackets Saturday, December 22 at 3 p.m.

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