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Chisago Lakes 79, North Branch 52

Despite some tough times for North Branch and Chisago Lakes boys basketball teams recently, their head-to-head match ups are usually must see games around the town.

This year, although plenty of fans turned out in North Branch for the first half of the boy-girl doubleheader in Chisago County basketball on Tuesday, Jan. 10, the game wasn't as thrilling as it's been in the past.

Although the two teams played an even contest throughout the first few minutes, Chisago Lakes began pulling away late in the first half with a barrage of threes from Adam Sapp and Peter Tengwall, as well as some dirty work by Clay Houfer.

Sapp, a junior, and Tengwall combined for five first half three pointers and Houfer scored 10 points with a variety of low post moves and putbacks over a North Branch team that lacks size.

"Give Chisago Lakes all the credit. They came in to our building tonight and took one from us," North Branch Head Coach David Anderson said. "They outworked us and out-hustled us. I can't take anything away from the game they played, they did a great job and deserved to win. Coach Jangor really had them ready to play tonight and they came in an dominated in every facet of the game."

By halftime, North Branch was down by 22 and their offense was running on fumes. Too often, they didn't move the ball around and took a quick shot, resulting in a lot of transition scores for the Wildcats.

"We were able to stay patient and get everyone involved," Chisago Lakes Head Coach Herb Jangor said after the victory, his club's third on the year. "We used our depth, got after it and stayed true to the plan."

In the second half, CL's Mitch Berg joined the three-point party by sinking three of his own. Tengwell, Eli Trochman and Sapp added a three pointer each to account for CL's 12 long distance scores.

Per Gulbranson also added some solid work down low as he fearlessly drove to the basket numerous times in what was a physical game. In fact, CL junior Vinnie Gorski had to come out of the game for a bit after catching an elbow to the head down low. Blood was streaming down his face and he ended up having to get the wound stitched up.

Also, Trochman, one of the senior captains and chief marksman for the 'Cats suffered a concussion in the game that will sideline him for the rest of the season.

"It's tough, because he's been through it. He brought experience and confidence to our team," Jangor said. "When you shoot like that, you're bound to have some big games, and he would've."

Despite the injuries, Chisago Lakes kept piling it on in the second half, outscoring the Vikes by nine points despite a steady stream of reserves getting a lot of action.

"It's our turn to look in the mirror and decide what type of a team we are going to be," Anderson said. "We need to take this lesson and learn something from it to improve in the future. If we don't, then we are just going to repeat our mistakes down the road."

The Wildcats had a balanced scoring board. Gulbranson led the way with 17 points, Sapp had 12 points, Houfer had 10, and Tengwall and Berg had nine points each.

"It's a tribute to the kid's mentality," Jangor said. "They are sticking to getting better and they just keep getting there."

Travis VanElsberg led the Vikings with 23 points, Tyler Knobbe had nine and Cody Knobbe had eight.

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