Tuesday night, the Becker Bulldog boys basketball team traveled to North Branch to face the Vikings, with both teams being 5-5 and tied for fourth place in the M8 Conference. 

Becker came into the game on a four game winning streak, while the Vikings were winners in their last three contests.  

The Bulldogs received a great performance from Nathan Weiss to pull off the 68-65 win to keep ahold of the fourth place spot in the M8.

The freshman scored 18 points in just his second varsity start to pace Becker, while classmate Sawyer Brown joined him in double figures with 17 points.

“We have gone to Nathan in the starting lineup and he has had a positive response,” Coach Josh Ihrke said. “We are figuring out rotations and getting guys to work together positively on both ends of the floor. Last night we put our most complete game in the last few weeks together. It has been fun to see the team continue to grow and trust each other.”

Scoring: Ryan Bengtson 9 (4 assists), Alex Weiss 7 (8 rebounds), Sawyer Brown 17, Julias Hendricks 12, Nathan Weiss 18, Mitchell Soltau 6, Jackson Duncan 2.

Storm

Last Friday, the Bulldogs traveled to Sauk Rapids to take on the Storm, who were mired in a four game losing streak and sported a 7-11 record overall. However,  Becker’s opponent has also shown the ability to be a tough opponent on their home court, with six of their eight wins coming at home.

Becker was unable to solve their recent offensive woes, falling 80-59.

The Storm led just 30-25 at halftime, but found their offensive rhythm in the second stanza, scoring 50 points. Becker, meanwhile, couldn’t find their shooting touch and ended the game shooting 38% from the field to the Storm’s 50%.

Many of the stat lines were similar in the game, as the Bulldogs enjoyed slight advantages in offensive rebounds (10-9), charges taken (3-1) and pass deflections (6-3). The Storm, meanwhile, led in defensive rebounds (27-21), turnovers (11-13) and points off turnovers (18-5).

The win dropped Becker to 8-11 on the season, including 5-5 in the M8 Conference, good enough to be tied in fourth place with Tuesday night’s opponent, North Branch.

Becker scoring: Alex Weiss 16 (3 assists), Zach Bengtson 5, Kyle Vogl 3, Sawyer Brown 11 (4 assists), Julias Hendricks 13 (9 rebounds), Nathan Weiss 2 (6 rebounds), Josh Groskreutz 2, Mitchell Soltau 7 (6 rebounds).

The competition doesn’t get any easier for Becker, who was scheduled to host conference second-place team Cambridge-Isanti in a Friday night game before welcoming M8 leader Princeton (9-1) for a Tuesday night affair. The Bluejackets gave Princeton their only conference loss earlier this season, but the Tigers have been on fire since, winning seven straight and 9 of their last 10 games.