June 10, 2021 at 1:12 p.m.
Eagles come up five short in triple overtime loss to Littlefork-Big Falls
"It was good to have the first week of the year to work on some things at practice. Bigfork has a good outside attack and they connected on 10 3's in the game. Our kids adapted well to some new defenses we hadn't played very often and it slowed down the Bigfork attack. Our boys battled and scrapped on defense even though they were out-sized by 4-6 inches," commented Coach Tim Vagle.
Chris Scheidt and Trey Kelley led the Eagle offense with 11 points each followed by Patrick Kemper and Steven Grundmann with eight a-piece.
When Littlefork-Big Falls came to Remer on Friday, little did the fans and players know at tip off what a barn-burner they were in store for. Although the final tally was not to lean toward the Eagles, it was a great night to be a basketball fan.
"What more could you ask for in a game? Triple Overtime, difficult shots with time winding down to tie the game....to answer the question a win would have been nice! I couldn't be more proud of the guys for how they battled back and never gave in. The LF-BF coach commented after the game how hard our guys worked from start to finish. The guys are really beginning to understand what it takes as a team to overcome some adversity and what they can do to help us compete. The shot to tie the game with :01 left on the clock almost didn't happen, as we were about to inbound the ball Sophomore Patrick Kemper motion to the bench that maybe we might want a higher percentage shooter in the game being down by 3 points...his ability to get offensive boards most of the night kept him in the game and as fate would have it he grabbed a rebound of a missed 3 and stepped back behind the arc and tied the game with his own 3, hard work paying off!" Said Coach Vagle.
"A coachable moment occurred early in the second overtime. Sophomore Taylor Smith had to take on the majority of the ball handling duties, after Kelley fouled out of the game, and had been forced into a couple turnovers that led to lay-ups by LF-BF. I called Taylor to the sidelines, moments like these are the reason I love being a coach, Taylor was shaken and dejected, I wanted to scream "what the HECK", he needed to know that it was alright and we still had a chance if he kept his head up and kept playing, fortunately for us, he did just that and scored the next two driving lay-ups through traffic, bringing us to Scheidt time...Tied at 72 with 41 seconds left Chris Scheidt powered in for an old-fashioned 3 point play...a driving lay-up and 2 free throws by LF-BF made it 76-75 with :27 left and a lay-up with :17 seconds left put LF-BF ahead by 3...under :07 left...Sophomore Steven Grundmann threw a touchdown inbound pass to Scheidt at half court...Scheidt dribbled to the 3 point line and calmly sent us to triple overtime by knocking down the three," continued Coach Vagle.
"As with most great games that go to 3 OT's fouls and free throws will decide things and 3 free throws by LF-BF signalled the end of a great game. We had opportunities they just didn't fall and a couple offensive boards by the Vikings led to lay-ups and a bitter sweet loss," concluded Vagle.
Scheidt led the Eagles with 26 points and 17 boards; Kemer put down 20 with 10 rebounds; Kelley chipped in 13 points and Matt Johnson added 11 points and 15 rebounds.[[In-content Ad]]
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