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Monday the Eagles took to the road against the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig Silver Eagles. Northland jumped out early and never looked back, leading at the half 59-28, with the final score ending at 80-41. Northland starters did not play the entire second half which was "running" time. Ten players got into the scoring column for the Northland Eagles as Coach Watkins was able to substitute freely throughout the game against the undermanned Silver Eagles. The win brought the season record up to 10-11.

Scoring vs Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig- Smith-9, Likens-7, Nornberg-8, Kemper-20, G. Gross-6, Wicks-7, Perkins-5, L. Gross-8, Motz-6, Stefan-3

Rebounding leaders- Kemper-11, Motz-7, Wicks-5

The Floodwood Polar Bears and their 19-4 record visited the Eagles on Tuesday Feb. 26. This was Parents Night and the last regular season home game and hopes were high that would help spark an Eagle upset.

The game started with the Eagles taking an early 6-0 lead. Floodwood was able to come back and take the lead at 11-10. The remainder of the half saw the Eagles fall behind by a few points only to battle back again to tie, but could not forge ahead. Near the end of the half and down 32-29, Junior Zak Nornberg knocked in a 3 to tie the game at half, 32-32.

The start of the second half had the Polar Bears got 6 quick points before the Eagles finally scored to close to 38-34. This was a sign of how the second half would go for the Eagles offense. Missed shots and turnovers led to the Eagles only scoring 6 points in the first fourteen minutes of the second half, yet were only down by 11 at 49-38. Coaches always tell players that even if you aren't making your shots, good defense will keep you in the game until they start to go in. That scenario played itself out during the last three minutes as the boys kept digging in on defense and finally started getting to the free throw line. A pair of long 3-pointers by Gary Gross closed the Eagles to within 3 at 55-52 with 6.8 seconds left. A made free throw by Floodwood stifled the comeback attempt, as the Eagles came up short 56-52. The loss dropped the Eagles to 10-12 on the season.

Scoring vs. Floodwood- Smith-7, Likens-4, Nornberg-6, Kemper-12, G. Gross-13, Wicks-2, Perkins-8

Rebounding Leaders - Kemper-8, Nornberg-5, Perkins-5

The Eagles were at Blackduck for the final regular season game, on Friday March 1, hoping to get back into the win column after a hard fought loss to Floodwood.

The Drakes started fast and never looked back, jumping out to a 10-2 lead in the games first three minutes. The Eagles then went on a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to close to within one at 12-11, but that is as close as they would ever get. The Drakes then went on a 10-2 run of their own to forge ahead 22-13 at the 7:48 mark of first half. The Eagles would never get closer than six the rest of the first half, trailing at the half 42-28. A 9-0 start to the second half put the Drakes up 51-28 and the rest of the game would see the Eagles get the lead back to under 20 before the Drakes would hit a couple shots and push their lead back to over 20, before the final buzzer sounded with the Eagles on the short end of a 79-51 score.

Offensively the Eagles looked a bit out of sync most of the night, while defensively, they played fairly well but the Drakes are a very physical team and used some inside muscle at times to gain some key offensive rebounds. The loss leaves the final regular season record at 10-13.

Eagles Scoring vs Blackduck- Smith-10, Likens-2, Wake-3, Nornberg-4, Kepmer-13, G. Gross-10, Wicks-2, Perkins-4, L. Gross-1, Motz-2

Rebounding Leaders- Perkins-7, Wicks -5, G Gross-5

Next up for the Eagles is a Section 5A playoff game at home Thursday March 7 at 7:00 p.m. against Hill City. This is a #4 vs #5 seed game and should be very exciting as the teams have split their previous two games this year with the Hornets winning in Hill City by 2 in December and the Eagles winning at home by 4 less than 2 weeks ago. The winner moves on to the Section 5A quarterfinal on Saturday March 9 in Mora.

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