The Forest Lake boys basketball team lost a heartbreaker in its final home game of the season on Thursday, Feb. 29, falling to top Suburban East Conference team Cretin-Derham Hall by a final score of 85-81.
On a night where the seniors of the Rangers boys program were honored and recognized, the Rangers didn’t give the win to the SEC’s No. 1-team easily, only losing by 4 in a game that went into double overtime.
The Rangers entered the contest seeking to avenge its previous loss to Cretin-Derham Hall back on Jan. 24, where Forest Lake fell 67-58 on the road. Senior bucket-getter Owen Waldoch saved his best performance of the season for last, racking up a season-high 43 points in the loss. The center doubled his scoring total from the last matchup with the Raiders, in which he scored a team-high of 20 points.
Courtesy of his 43-point night, Waldoch, who broke the Ranger boys’ all-time scoring record of 1,446 points in the week prior vs. East Ridge, kept his squad within reach of the Raiders throughout the contest.
Forest Lake jumped out to an early lead over Cretin-Derham to begin the battle, en route to a 5-point first-half lead, 29-24. Defense was the key factor early on, and the Rangers were in familiar territory, holding a manageable lead heading into the half, as the team owns a 9-6 record when leading after the first half of play. The second half’s action brought an offensive shootout, as both teams traded scores in rally fashion – complete opposite of the first 18 minutes of play.
After a combined 87 second-half points from both schools, the game still wasn’t decided at the final buzzer. The Rangers fought hard to tie the game up at 70 apiece in the final frame, as Forest Lake had a brief amount of time to prepare for its third overtime opportunity of the 2023-24 campaign. Each squad scored 6 points in the extra period, leading to a second overtime. Forest Lake ultimately lost its step and fell short of the Raiders by 4 points. Outside of Waldoch’s 43-point outing, Braedan Turk ended up with 18 total points, while DJ Westman added 10.
As the final regular season game came to a close, the Rangers orchestrated a 14-12 record on the year and tied Roseville for fifth-place in the Suburban East Conference, a huge step in improvement from the team’s 9-18 overall outing a season ago and its 6-22 record two seasons ago.
This year, Forest Lake earned the first-overall seed in the Section 7AAAA tournament and will get ready for its quarterfinals matchup with the No. 8-seeded Duluth East Greyhounds on Wednesday, March 6, in a game held after press time.
If Forest Lake were to defeat the Greyhounds, they will face off with the winner from the other quarterfinals game between Andover and Cambridge-Isanti.
Comments / 0