---

Robbinsdale Cooper 74, Chisago Lakes 41

Playing Robbinsdale Cooper is never a fun thing for any North Suburban Conference team, much less playing them at home.

The Chisago Lakes boys basketball team knew they would have to play a picture perfect game to even have a chance at unseating Cooper from the top of the NSC. The Hawks came into the game at 7-1 in the conference and 14-3 overall.

From the beginning, it was evident that the Wildcats weren't going to be able to hang with the athleticism and talent that Cooper brought to the table.

They were down nearly 30 by halftime, and even though Cooper had a multitude of subs coming in and out in the second half, the 'Cats were never able to make a dent in the lead.

Despite the 33-point loss, Head Coach Herb Jangor took plenty of positives out of the game. "None of us played bad," he said. "I think we can play better, but I'm feeling pretty good coming out of that game. Even the negative things we did were done in a positive way, and that wasn't happening in our previous games. It was just a tough go versus Cooper."

Jangor pointed specifically to Bryan Eichten as the only Wildcat to truly play a good gam. Eichten scored 10 points, had six rebounds and three steals. "No one played bad, but Bryan really stepped his game up against a tough team. He played defense, hustled around and grabbed rebounds."

Jangor also noted that junior Jordan Hickcox was saddled with a back injury early in the game, but he gutted his way through the game and worked hard.

Although there is never any easy game in the North Suburban Conference, the Wildcats, losers of four straight, don't catch any breaks coming up. After a game against St. Louis Park this week, they have three games next week, one against the stacked Columbia Heights Hylanders on Monday and one against rival North Branch on Friday. They follow up that Friday night game with a Saturday afternoon game against Duluth Denfeld, and Jangor knows it will tough to play with emotion against the 4-14 Hunters a little more than 12 hours after their match up against North Branch. "Altough we have our own problems, the schedule really isn't doing us any favors," he said.

---