Thursday, August 7th, 2025 Church Directory

Bulldog boys down Bluejackets, fall to Saints

Last Thursday, the Becker boys basketball team flipped the script on their usual game plan and used a punishing defense to defeat the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets, 68-54.  

While it had been the offense that was carrying the team in its earliest victories, Becker showed its mettle on the defensive end to pick up the Mississippi 8 Conference victory.

The Bulldogs raced to a 41-16 halftime lead and then held on for the win behind a balanced scoring attack.

Becker was able to maneuver into the lane with ease, while forcing the Bluejackets to settle for jump shots, where they hit just 38% for the game. Becker finished with 40 points in the paint, while C-I had but 20. 

Brady Paumen led the team in scoring with 14 points, followed closely by Alex Weiss with 13 and Nick Berglund with 10.  Weiss played his best game of the year for the Bulldogs, being active on the offensive boards where he picked up four offensive rebounds.

Eric Seavert added nine points and six assists for Becker, while Hayden Harmoning chipped in eight points.

Neither team made it to the free throw line often, as they each earned 10 shots from the stripe, with Becker converting eight points to the Bluejackets’ four.

In the battle of turnovers, the Bulldogs came out on top, committing just 18 to C-I’s 24.  This led to a 22-13 Bulldog advantage in points off of turnovers.

Rounding out the scoring for Becker were Tristan Pickwall (1), Ryan Bengtson (3), Nick Knute (4), and Landen Goebel (6).

Saints

In Tuesday night’s loss to the Saints, Becker fell behind in the first half 42-35 and couldn’t recover before the game ended with the Saints on top 79-71.

St. Francis used a 15-for-18 night at the free throw line to come out on top of the Bulldogs, who suffered just their second defeat of the season.  Becker went 8-for-11 at the free throw line.

Nick Knute had a monster game for Becker, as he hit nine three-pointers total, including four in the first half, en route to scoring 33 points for the Bulldogs.  As a team, Becker hit 13 shots from long range compared to just seven for the Saints.  However,  St. Francis used an advantage from inside the arc to put the game out of reach.

Brady Paumen chipped in 14 points for Becker, as he was aggressive all night and went 7-for-8 from the free throw line.  Eric Seavert added 12 points for Becker, while Alex Weiss had seven.  Hayden Harmoning (3) and Nick Berglund (2) rounded out the scoring for Becker.

The team is in for a busy part of the schedule, as they traveled to Chisago Lakes Thursday night for another conference game before hosting the North Branch Vikings in a Monday evening contest.  Tuesday, the teams travels to Annandale to take on the Cardinals in one of the team’s toughest non-conference match ups of the season.