The Sebeka Trojans won for the sixth straight time Friday in defeating Wadena-Deer Creek 60-57 for a regular season sweep of the Wolverines.
Friday's game mirrored the first encounter this year between the two Park Region Conference clubs, which the Trojans pulled out 62-60 on Jan. 13 in Wadena.
The Trojans grabbed a 30-25 first half lead and only allowed the Wolverines to outscore them 32-30 in the second half.
Caleb Puttonen led a balanced Sebeka scoring attack with a dozen tallies. James Clark and Colt Hansen netted 11 points each. The Trojans shot 43 percent from the field.
The Wolverines, who posted a hard-fought 75-71 victory Thursday over Pine River-Backus, were led by scoring ace Noah Ross, who canned a game-high 24 points. Bereket Loer added 11 points. The Trojans were able to hold Dacotah Mittag, who had a huge double-double night Thursday, to only four points.
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The victory gave the Trojans a 13-8 record overall and kept their hopes of a PRC title alive by pushing their record to 9-3. The Wolverines dropped to 11-11 overall and 6-6 in the conference. Verndale entered the last full week of February leading the PRC with an 11-1 record.
The Wolverines will host New York Mills Friday in another conference tilt.
SEBEKA (60)
James Clark 11, Jack Lillquist 8, Caleb Puttonen 12, Colt Hansen 11, Mason Dailey 7, William Hannu 6, Wyatt Meech 5. Totals: 19/6 4-14 60
WADENA-DEER CREEK (57)
Bereket Loer 11, Jonathan Pantages 8, Thomas Quincer 6, Noah Ross 24, Ryan Anderson 4, Dacotah Mittag 4. Totals: 10/7 16-23 57
WDC 25 32 - 57
Sebeka 30 30 - 60
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Wadena-Deer Creek 75, Pine River-Backus 71
Dacotah Mittag led the way with 26 points and 14 rebounds Thursday as the Wolverines posted a non-conference win over Pine River-Backus.
Mittag was dynamite from the free throw line making 16 of his 19 attempts. The Wolverines returned to form at the foul stripe making 29 of 40 attempts.
Bereket Loer pumped in 14 points for the Wolverines while Jonathan Pantages and Noah Roers canned 10 points apiece.
"We played a solid game," WDC head coach Kevin Tumberg said. "We need to turn the corner defensively and picked that end of our game up and bit, but offensively we are playing better."
We learned tonight that free throws win games, but we need to do a better job at making free throws down the stretch.
Nick Ackerman was the top gunner for Pine River-Backus with 19 talies. Torry Hirschey, Brady Raph and Nate Brasel netted 15, 14 and 11 points respectively.
The Wolverines improved to 11-10.
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WADENA-DEER CREEK (75)
Bereket Loer 14, Jonathan Pantages 10, Matt Goeden 2, Thomas Quincer 3, Lucas Doyle 4, Noah Ross 10, Ryan Anderson 6, Dacotah Mittag 26. Totals: 14/6 29-40 75
PINE RIVER-BACKUS (71)
Brady Raph 14, Torry Hirschey 15, Nick Ackerman 19, Kiel Struss 4, Nate Brasel 11, Joe Davidson 8. Totals: 14/11 10-19 71
Pine River-Backus 31 40 - 71
Wadena-Deer Creek 35 40 - 75
Upsala 75, WDC 74
An offensive explosion by a frustrated Upsala team spelled defeat for Kevin Tumberg's Wolverines Tuesday in Upsala.
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Three playerd scored in double figures as the Cardinals shook off a 12-game losing streak. Myron Ripplinger paced Upsala with 27 points while Jorgan Kiley netted 18 and Riley Johnson tacked up 16.
Noah Ross paced the high-scoring Wolverines with 20 points. Dacotah Mittag was the team's No. 2 scorer with 14. Bereket Loer and Ryan Anderson both gunned in 13 points. The Wolverines had a chance to win the game at the free throw stripe but converted on only 25 of their 41 attempts for 59 percent.
The victory gave the Cardinals a 2-18 record. The Wolverines saw their season mark even out at 10-10.
UPSALA (75)
Alex Thieschafer 9, Bennett Westrich 3, Myron Ripplinger 27, Parker Barth 2, Jorgan Kiley 18, Riley Johnson 16.
WADENA-DEER CREEK (74)
Bereket Loer 13, Jonathan Pantages 4, Thomas Quincer 6, Lucas Doyle 2, Noah Ross 20, Ryan Anderson 13 , Dacotah Mittag 16.
WDC 32 42 - 74
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Upsala 31 44 - 75
