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The Wildcat boys battled hard, but came up just short in a game against Totino-Grace Tuesday, December 18 at Chisago Lakes. The Eagles survived a late-game CL rally to defeat the 'Cats 62-59.

"We played a good game," said Wildcat head coach Herb Jangor. "We took advantage of a variety of situations during the course of the game, but we just came up short at the end. I know it sounds cliche', but it was one of those games that neither team deserved to lose."

In a game of runs, the Wildcats took a five-point lead in the first half, but Totino came back to close the gap to two (28-26) at the break. The second half was close all the way, with neither squad leading by more than seven, an advantage they enjoyed with three minutes left.

The coach noted that his team gave up too many offensive rebounds off of Eagle freethrow attempts near the end of the game. "We were down by seven with about three minutes to go, and were dead tired," Jangor continued. "During a time-out, I told the kids that, tired or not, we had to go with the guys in the game.

"Over the last three minutes, we battled back. The kids displayed a lot of character. We had two chances late, one to go ahead and one to tie it. But, with 12 seconds left, we took the ball the length of the court and weren't able to get a shot off," Jangor said.

According to the coach, Wildcat junior center Josh Figini bounced back with a good game, after struggling against St. Francis. Jangor was also complimentary of the play of Taylor Jones and Eric Reed.

"We're making it too difficult on ourselves. We need to do the little things. If we continue to play hard, we'll get better. Like we tell the kids, 'It's a journey.' We'll get there," Jangor added.

SCORING SUMMARY

Totino-Grace 26 36 62

Chisago Lakes 28 31 59

Wildcat Scoring

Eric Reed 4

Kyle Hogie 10

Mike Corradi 5

Evan Tienken 4

Taylor Jones 11

Josh Figini 23

Jake Warkel 1

Quinn Collins 1

Total 59

Irondale at Chisago Lakes

Thursday, December 20 the Wildcats played another exciting conference game. This time, they trailed Irondale by as much as 17 before a furious comeback closed the gap to two. But the Knights held on for a 64-59 win at CLHS.

In the first quarter of the game, Irondale forged an eight-point lead. Josh Figini revved up the crowd with 9:31 in the half when he made a quick move down the baseline and scored on a reverse layup and the Knights led 15-9.

The teams exchanged points for the next three minutes and, when Kyle Hogie dropped a three point rainbow with 7:45 remaining in the half, it was 22-16, Irondale. The pace slowed for the fans over the next few minutes.

Irondale took a timeout just inside of seven minutes. Knight coach Jon DeMars' team responded. In a four-minute span, they outscored CL 8-3. Only another Hogie three kept the home team from falling further behind.

The Wildcats trailed 30-19 when head coach Herb Jangor called the first of three timeouts in a 45 second span. Neither team could find the range from the field in the last three minutes. But, Taylor Jones and Figini each went two-for-two from the freethrow line. That left the scoreboard reading Irondale 30, Chisago Lakes 23 at the half.

Irondale hit three long threes in the first first seven minutes of the second stanza. Their period opening 15-5 run gave the Knights a 45-28 lead with 11 minutes left. But, just when things looked as dark as the shortest day of the year, Wildcat juniors Quinn Collins and Henry Fitzpatrick hit from three-point range in an 18 second span.

With 9:42 left, DeMars took a timeout with an 11 point, 45-34 lead. When the clock started ticking again, Irondale scored first, extending its lead to 13. A Taylor Jones three cut it to 10 before Figini ended the next two Irondale possessions with blocks.

The Knights hit another three and, with six minutes left, Irondale led 50-37. At 5:50, Fitzpatrick found Figini, who banked it in for two. In the next minute, Hogie dropped another from downtown and Irondale hit a two. That made it 55-42 with less than five to play.

Figini hit two from the charity stripe, the Wildcats made another defensive stop and Figini connected on a putback. With 3:20 to go, it was 55-46. The margin was still nine at 2:15 when Jones stole the ball and took it the distance for a layup. A few ticks later, another CL takeaway got the crowd excited. They were on their feet when Figini finished the break with a two-handed flush. With two minutes left, the score was 57-52.

In the next 30 seconds, the Knights responded with four foul shots, balanced by two by Figini. With 1:30 left, it was 61-54. At 1:11, Hogie hit another three. With 39 seconds on the clock, Jones found Figini free for a short one and the Wildcats had cut the Irondale lead from 17 to 2.

It was 61-59 when the 'Cats were whistled for their 10th personal with 19.1 to go. The victory was still possible after Irondale missed the second freethrow. But, that miss caromed all the way back to a Knight standing on the freethrow line. The Wildcats were forced to foul. This time, Irondale connected on both foul shots.

Irondale survived, taking a five-point road win.

"We're not running the system the way we have to - offensively or defensively," Jangor commented. "We need to play to our strengths. We always play hard and these kids keep showing a lot of heart. We know there's ability, we showed that last night, again. This is a great group of kids. It's our job to make them better."

SCORING SUMMARY

Irondale 30 34 64

Chisago Lakes 23 36 59

Wildcat Scoring

Eric Reed 1

Kyle Hogie 12

Henry Fitzpatrick 4

Evan Tienken 3

Taylor Jones 16

Josh Figini 20

Quinn Collins 3

Total 59

The Wildcats host the Chisago Lakes Invitational tonight and Friday evening (December 27-28). Games will start at 6:00 and 7:45.

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