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North St. Paul 76, Chisago Lakes 60
When working out early season kinks and getting in a rhythm, it’s tough to face a team as talented as North St. Paul.

The Chisago Lakes boys basketball team found that out when they opened the season against the Polars on Saturday, November 21 at North High School.

The athletic and efficient North St. Paul team scored early and often against the ‘Cats, registering 37 points in the first half while Chisago Lakes only scored 24.

In the second half, North St. Paul kept the pressure on and while the Wildcats answered with strong offense of their own, it was too little, too late as they fell 76-60.

Ethan Hickcox led the team with 16 points and eight rebounds. Vaughn Strenke had 11 points and nine rebounds and Dylan Wood added 10 points and nine rebounds.

Chisago Lakes 55, Mahtomedi 53
The Wildcats got back on track in a tough test against Mahtomedi. The Zephyrs may have lost their top four scorers from last year, but they still feature six-foot, six-inch guard Parker Fox, who put in 28 points in a season opening 25 point blowout over White Bear Lake.
The Wildcats did their best to limit Fox and make his teammates beat them. He scored 18 points, but it was an inefficient night for him, taking plenty of shots to get to that total.

When the game came down to the wire tied at 53-53, the ‘Cats fed their stalwart post presence Wood. The senior backed his defender down and after a nifty pivot, put the game winning basket in with two seconds left in the game.

The game-winning basket gave Wood 13 points and nine rebounds on the night. High scorer for the ‘Cats was junior Trevin Nelson, who shot four-of-eight from the three point line. Ethan Hickcox had six steals on defense for CL.

Chisago Lakes 47, St. Cloud Tech 32
The Wildcats showed their defensive prowess in a lockdown win over Thanksgiving weekend against St. Cloud Tech.

The ‘Cats traveled to Monticello for the holiday tournament and dealt the Tigers their first loss of the year.

Nobody had a shining game on offense, but that’s because they spent so much time hounding the Tigers on the defensive end of the floor. Hickcox was CL’s top scorer with nine points, six rebounds and nine assists. Thomas Gillach had five of the ‘Cats 12 steals. As a team, Chisago Lakes dominated St. Cloud Tech from start to finish.

Orono 63, Chisago Lakes 61
Beating the Tigers pitted the ‘Cats up against the Orono Spartans, who were 3-0 on the year and were fresh off a 15-point win over Big Lake in the first round of the tournament.

The dangerous Spartans had made the state tournament last year and were 24-6, making them a very formidable early season litmus test for the ‘Cats.

Chisago Lakes almost passed that test, too. They used their size to out-rebound Orono. Carter Duncan, Wood and Hickcox combined for 30 rebounds, but poor shooting did the ‘Cats in as they lost 63-61.

As a team, they shot 22 of 62 from the field and only two-of-13 from long range. They also missed 10 free throws on the game, which came back to haunt them in the close loss.

Gillach netted 16 points while Duncan had 12 and Aron Johnson chipped in 10.

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