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"Patience," said Chisago Lakes head boys' basketball coach Herb Jangor, "is the word that describes this game. We didn't have enough of it and they did."

Jangor was speaking about the game between the Wildcats and the Spring Lake Park Panthers Tuesday, January 9. The Panthers beat CL 66-60 at SLP.

The Wildcats got off to a 12-6 start, but then the offense stalled. "We didn't have the patience we needed. Spring Lake Park had the patience to break our defense down. They made four, five or six passes before they shot," Jangor said.

After the fast CL start, the Panthers outscored the 'Cats 24-8 before the halftime buzzer. "We only scored four points in the last six minutes of the half," Jangor added.

Only five Wildcats scored in the first 18 minutes and only Josh Figini (8 points) and Joe Knafla (6 points) scored more than one basket. The scoring drought left the Wildcats in a 10 point 30-20 hole at halftime.

In the second half, the 'Cats cut the SLP lead to 5 or 6 on several occasions. But, they couldn't get any closer as each time they had an opportunity to close the gap, they either committed a turnover or missed a shot. Each time, the Panthers came back with a hoop to regain the momentum.

"We'd get impatient and settle, rather than waiting for a great shot," Jangor continued. "It seemed like every break and call went the other way. But, we weren't aggressive and didn't make our own breaks.

"Spring Lake Park played well and shot well AND they had patience. We could never sustain anything. I thought it was one of our poorer efforts, but, at least we put ourselves in a position to have a chance," the coach said.

On the positive side, led by Taylor Jones, the Wildcats put 40 points on the board after the intermission. Jones tallied 20 and got support from Tyler Bouwens' 8 in the final period.

"Taylor's been struggling mentally with his shot. He hasn't scored much for us, lately. But, last night he didn't let it bother him. We still haven't had some of our best scorers get on track and get into double figures night in and night out. We're playing hard, but we need to score more consistently. Figini rebounded well for us, but we didn't get the consistency we needed," the coach concluded.

Chisago Lakes 20 40 60

Spring Lake Park 30 36 66

Chisago Lakes Scoring

Tyler Bouwens 8

Chris Golv 3

Zach Sill 6

Josh Figini 11

Joe Knafla 8

Taylor Jones 22

Scott Leigh 2

Total 60

Robbinsdale-Coopert at CL

The Wildcats faced one of the state's best at home Friday, January 12. The CL boys played hard, but couldn't keep up with the talented Hawk squad as they lost their second conference game of the week 76-56.

Cooper led 6-2 with two minutes gone, but when Wildcat senior Chris Golv drained one from the far corner with 14:40 left, the score was tied at seven. Unphased, the Hawks dropped consecutive three's to take a 13-7 lead a minute later.

The 'Cats held the Hawks scoreless for the next three minutes. Meanwhile, Josh Figini put in two freethrows and Troy Aadland tipped in a Wildcat miss. Figini made one of two from the line with 10:23 on the clock to close the gap to 13-12.

Just when it seemed CL was getting into rhythm, the Hawks scored seven quick points, including a rim-shaking jam of an RC miss, that gave them a 20-12 bulge. Joe Knafla got the 'Cats back on the board with 6:43 left. The Hawks made it look easy for the next two minutes to take a 30-14 lead at the 4:55 mark.

Two Figini freethrows and a Golv jumper were matched by four Cooper points and, with 2:50 left, the Cooper lead was still 16. The Wildcats showed some real spark as they scored nine points in the next 90 seconds to climb back into the contest.

Zach Sill hit a freethrow and followed that with a two. Kyle Hogie and Taylor Jones scored consecutive threes and, all of a sudden, the CL deficit was seven. However, Cooper showed its quality by responding with a pair of three pointers to close out the first half scoring and take a 40-27 lead to the locker room.

The second half was much like the first. Every time the Wildcats made a run, the Hawks were able to answer. Whenever the 'Cats made a mistake, Cooper took advantage of it.

"We had a pretty good game plan and we executed it pretty well," said coach Jangor. "But, not well enough to upset a great team like Cooper. We wanted to go out and honor the game of basketball and play with no fear. For the most part, we did both. We played well. We didn't make many mistakes. But, they're one of the best teams in the state and, when we missed a few assignments, they took advantage of it."

Robbinsdale-Cooper 40 36 76

Chisago Lakes 27 29 56

Chisago Lakes Scoring

Kyle Hogie 3

Tyler Bouwens 3

Chris Golv 9

Taylor Jones 11

Zach Sill 9

Troy Aadland 5

Scott Leigh 1

Josh Figini 11

Joe Knafla 4

Total 56

The Wildcats host North Branch tonight, Thursday, January 18 and St. Louis Park Tuesday, January 23. Both games start at 7:15.

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