Bereket Loer pumped in 20 points as Wadena-Deer Creek climbed above the .500 mark Thursday with a 53-47 conference victory over Bertha-Hewitt.
Dacotah Mittag had a double-double with 18 points and 16 rebounds.
"The boys battled out a good home win," WDC head coach Kevin Tumberg said. "It was a close game the entire night and our boys were able to grind out a win."
The Bears stayed within striking range of the Wolverines but lacked the same scoring punch as the Wolverines. Luke Follmer carried most of the load with a 19-point night.
Three point shooting was a major factor in the game with the Wolverines canning nine of 24 attempts and the Bears going 0-for-11.
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With 15 games in the books the Wolverines have an 8-7 record. The conference win over Bertha-Hewitt gave Tumberg's team a 4-4 mark in the tightly-packed PRC race.
Bertha-Hewitt dropped to 4-10 overall and 2-6 in the conference.
The Wolverines with open their 10-game February schedule Thursday by hosting PRC foe Henning.
BERTHA-HEWITT (47)
Austin Mattson 5, William Harren 8, Luke Follmer 19, Jerry Lamb 7, Brett Jansen 8. Totals: 18 10-18 47
WADENA-DEER CREEK (53)
Bereket Loer 20, Jonathan Pantages 3, Thomas Quincer 3, Noah Ross 8, Ryan Anderson 1, Dacotah Mittag 18. Totals: 9/9 8-15 9-24 53
Bertha-Hewitt 27 20 - 47
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Wadena-Deer Creek 32 21 - 53
New York Mills 72, WDC 70 (OT)
Skylar Mursu, Brady Bauck and Nic Kangas came up with 21, 19 and 18 points respectively in lifting the Eagles over the Wolverines in overtime.
The Park Region Conference game was tied at 68-68 at the end of regulation play. The Eagles held the Wolverines to only two points in OT.
The loss was a lesson in trust for the Wolverines who WDC head coach Kevin Tumberg credited with playing a good game.
"We need to do a better job of simply trusting ourselves and our teammates," Tumberg said.
WDC's Noah Ross poured in a game-high 27 points while Dacotah Mittag netted 16 and Jonathan Pantages scored 15. The Wolverines made nine treys to Mills' six and 15 free throws to Mills' zero. The Eagles converted 27 deuces to WDC's 14.
The Eagles went to 4-3 in the conference and 7-6 overall. The Wolverines slipped to 3-4 in the PRC and 7-7 for the season.
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NEW YORK MILLS (72)
Skylar Mursu 21, Ethan Hendrickx 2, Brady Bauck 19, Peter Hendrickx 10, Nic Kangas 18, Jonas Baune 2. Totals: 27/6 0-6 72
WADENA-DEER CREEK (70)
Bereket Loer 5, Jonathan Pantages 15, Thomas Quincer 3, Noah Ross 27, Ryan Anderson 4, Dacotah Mittag 16. Totals: 14/9 15-20 70
Wadena-Deer Creek 29 39 2 - 70
New York Mills 30 38 4 - 72
