Last Friday, the Becker boys basketball team went on the road and nearly hit the century mark in scoring en route to a 98-65 win over the Big Lake Hornets.

After trading buckets early with the Hornets, the Bulldogs put together five defensive stops in a row after a Coach Cory Nuest timeout and assumed a 30-19 lead.

From there, the Bulldogs took an eight point lead into halftime behind some great effort players from Mitch Soltau and Bryce Paumen.  Denlan Harmoning also grabbed a big rebound then nailed a corner three for a big boost entering the intermission.

“Our top goal heading into the game was to hold Big Lake to 65 points or under,” Nuest said.  “I’m very proud of the boys to accomplish that goal!” 

While the offensive output was impressive for the Bulldogs, there were a few additional eye opening stats as Nathan Weiss racked up nine assists and Bryce Paumen hauled in 18 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end.

“We tied a season high 34 assists on 38 baskets which shows the unselfish basketball the boys played,” Nuest added.

In the second half, the Bulldogs came out on fire with Troy Nuest (13 points in the game) hitting a pair of long three-pointers and Weiss adding three bombs as Becker was off to the races.

From there, Coach Nuest was able to clear the bench, as 15 different Bulldogs saw action in the game.

Paumen led the scoring attack with 23 points, while Weiss and Sawyer Brown each added 22 for the Bulldogs, as nine different players scored in the game.

Vs. Magic

Tuesday night, Becker hosted Monticello and fell 60-74 to a Magic team that improved to 7-0 in the M8 Conference and 13-3 overall.

The game was part of a varsity doubleheader, as the boys teams tipped off early and were followed by the girls varsity teams from both schools.

Becker kept it close at halftime, trailing just 31-28 before the Magic used a big second half to assume control.

Nuest was proud of his team’s first half effort against the Magic.

“We worked as a team and collectively were rebounding and playing very unselfish basketball,” the coach said.

Troy Nuest posted the first two baskets for the Bulldogs with his short range, unstoppable floaters, while he and Landon Peterson were fierce on the defensive end with a steal each.  These two takeaways led to two transition three-point shots for Peterson, who scored eight of his 10 in the first half for the Bulldogs. 

Nathan Weiss paced the team with 17 points, as he made it to the free throw line seven times and hit five.  Sawyer Brown chipped in 14 points for the Bulldogs, while Landon Peterson added 10, Troy Nuest nine, and Mitch Soltau eight for the Bulldogs.  

Becker moved to 4-3 in M8 Conference play and 7-7 overall with the loss.