The Becker boys basketball team lost its final two regular season games last week, but still finished the season with a record of 9-9, good enough for fourth place in the highly competitive Mississippi 8 Conference.

Hornets

Last Thursday night, the Bulldogs and Big Lake Hornets played an even first half before Becker went ice cold in the shooting department and the Hornets caught fire down the stretch, winning 77-58.

Becker actually had a slight, 33-31, halftime advantage but couldn’t make it hold up as the Hornets poured in 46 second half points.

Becker shot just 4-for-22 from 3-pt. range (18%), while the Hornets hit 7-for-18 (39%).

Big Lake also held a big advantage in the rebounding department, grabbing 46 to the Bulldogs’ 28.

Hayden Harmoning had his best offensive game of the year for the Bulldogs, scoring 14 points to go along with three rebounds and two assists.  Eric Seavert paced Becker with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists.

For Big Lake, it was a two player scoring bonanza, as Wyatt Windhorst finished with 25 points and Jack Iverson had 30.  Windhorst also had 11 rebounds and was a team best plus-25 when he was in the game.

Becker scoring: Alex Weiss 4, Nick Berglund 6, Ryan Bengtson 1, Nick Knute 10, Harmoning 14, Seavert 16, Brady Paumen 7.

Big Lake scoring: Tre’ Gordy 2, Windhorst 25, Iverson 30, Mitchell Spanier 3, Kade Layton 9, Johnny O’Brien 2, Isaac Flicker 2, Carson Kunz 4.

Spartans

On Saturday of last week, Becker hosted the Rocori Spartans and fell by a score of 53-68.

This time it was the first half that gave Becker problems as their shooting was again cold, allowing the Spartans to race to a 39-19 halftime advantage.  Becker outscored Rocori 34-28 in the second half, but it was too little, too late and the Bulldogs ran out of time for their comeback.

Becker was again off target from the outside, hitting just six-of-27 three point shots, while Rocori attempted just 13 from long range, hitting four.

Rocori was aggressive in driving to the hoop and attempted 21 free throws (making 13) on 17 Bulldog fouls, while Backer had just six free throw attempts in the game (making five).

Both teams took care of the ball fairly well, with Becker committing 14 turnovers to the Spartans’ 11.

Becker scoring: Weiss 2, Berglund 7, Julias Hendricks 2, Knute 5, Harmoning 2, Seavert 16, Paumen 15, Landen Goebel 4.

Sections

Seeding for the Section 5AAA tournament were released early in the week with the Bulldogs drawing the #4 seed and a home contest against the Fridley Tigers March 19.  All games for section play will be hosted by the high seed.  Should Becker defeat the Tigers, they would play against the winner of a matchup between #1 Delano and #8 Zimmerman in the semifinals March 23.  The section championship is scheduled for March 26.

Big Lake (seeded #6) will open the playoffs on the road March 19 when they travel to Rocori (#3 seed).  If the Hornets pull off the upset, they will face the winner of the St. Francis (#2) versus Monticello (#7) game in the semifinals.

Becker and Big Lake finished the season with each team winning one game in the rivalry.  With a couple of upsets, it’s conceivable the teams could meet again in the Section Championship.