Sub section playoffs kick off this week

Photo by Chad Koenen
Asher Blaine drives up the court during a recent game in Frazee.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Two points is what proved to be the difference from hitting the road for the opening round of the sub section tournament on Monday night and getting a bit of home cooking. Simply put, one field goal or a pair of free throws, proved to be the difference between Frazee’s game against Lake Park-Audubon on Friday night.

Photo by Chad Koenen
Ryan Vigen helped the Frazee Hornets in their regular season finale win over Lake Park-Audubon last week.

Fortunately for the Hornets, they were able to come away with an all-important 61-59 win over the Raiders on Friday night to secure the eighth seed in the sub section tournament. 

The Hornets trailed early in the game, but took the lead late in the first half and led for nearly the entire second half of the game on Friday. Unfortunately, Lake Park-Audubon took a late lead to force the Hornets to need a last second shot to lift them past the visiting Raiders. 

Adam Vigen hit a 3-pointer as time expired to give the Hornets a hard-fought 61-59 win and improve them to 7-18 overall on the season. As a team the Hornets shot nearly 40 percent from the floor and held a big 28-18 advantage in points in the paint. Frazee also forced 20 Lake Park-Audubon turnovers in the win.

Frazee was led offensively by Asher Blaine who went 7-12 from the floor and scored 18 points. Vigen scored 12 points and pulled down 9 rebounds, while Alex Helmers chipped in with 11 points and Carter Sonnenberg finished with 8 points and 9 rebounds. 

The Hornets had a rematch against the Raiders on Monday night as they received the ninth seed in the sub section. 

The sub section tournament will continue on Thursday night when the winner of Frazee/Lake Park-Audubon will travel to fourth ranked and top seeded Henning (24-2 overall).
Henning comes into the game with a 17 game winning streak and are averaging 71.1 points per game on offense, while giving up just 48.2 points per game on defense.

Meanwhile, Frazee is averaging 59.5 points per game on offense, while giving up 62.6 points per game on defense while playing a largely Class AA schedule against the always difficult Heart O’ Lakes Conference.

The winner of Thursday’s game will head to the sub section semi-finals against either fourth seeded Park Christian (18-8 on the season) or fifth seeded Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal (14-12 on the season). That game will be held on Saturday in Perham at 1 p.m. 

POINTS: Asher Blaine 18, Adam Vigen 12, Cael Pausch 4, Drew Mekalson 2, Alex Helmers 11, Nathan Longfors 2, Carter Sonnenberg 8, Ayden Grossman 4

ASSISTS: Asher Blaine 4, Adam Vigen 2, Drew Mekalson 1, Nathan Longfors 1, Carter Sonnenberg 2

REBOUNDS: Asher Blaine 4, Adam Vigen 9, Cael Pausch 5, Alex Helmers 1, Nathan Longfors 4, Carter Sonnenberg 9, Ayden Grossman 1

STEALS: Asher Blaine 2, Adam Vigen 4, Alex Helmers 2, Carter Sonnenberg 4, Ayden Grossman 2

BLOCKS: Cael Pausch 1, Carter Sonnenberg 2