The Becker boys basketball team is just one game away from being Becker High School’s fourth winter sports team to qualify for the MSHSL state tournament, as the Bulldogs will face the Princeton Tigers in the Section 5AAA championship.  The section final game was played last night (Friday, March 18) in Cambridge against the #1 seed Princeton Tigers.

Becker advanced to the title game with a semifinal win over the Monticello Magic and Head Coach Josh Ihrke said it was maybe his team’s best game of the season.

“That was our most complete team victory,” Ihrke said after the game.  “We had valuable minutes from every guy tonight.”

Heading into the game, the semifinal matchup against Monticello had all the expectations of a close fought, physical playoff game, as the two teams had split 1-1 during the regular season.  Monticello won the first matchup, as the host Magic were on fire offensively on January 28 and came away with a 85-75 win.

Becker returned the favor at home exactly a month later as they won a 73-61 defensive minded contest on February 25.  Becker had finished the regular season in third place in the M8 Conference with an 8-6 record (15-10 overall), while the Magic finished second at 9-5 (13-13 overall).

But this time it was the section tournament and Becker was dominant in earning a trip to the finals.

The Bulldogs went on an offensive onslaught in the fist half, posting 49 points on the Magic and putting the game out of reach with a 49-20 halftime lead.

“Brady Paumen was playing at such a high level throughout the game, Ihrke added. “We were able to establish a toughness on defense that led to a productive offense.”

Becker shot 52% in the game and held the Magic to a woeful 30% field goal percentage, and in addition the Bulldogs were better in points in the paint (40 to 30), defensive rebounding (29 to 20) and points off turnovers (20 to 11).

Paumen put up the double-double for the Bulldogs, as he scored 18 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Eric Seavert also played well, scoring 15 points and dishing out five assists, while Hayden Harmoning played perhaps his best game of the year with 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. 

Ihrke was proud of how his #2 seeded team handled a very good Magic squad.

“We earned the opportunity to play in the section final on Friday against Princeton,” Ihrke said.

Becker scoring: Alex Weiss, four; Nick Berglund, eight; Julias Hendricks, six; Ryan Bengtson, five; Harmoning, 11 (five rebounds, four assists); Seavert, 15; Paumen, 18; Carter Callahan, two (five rebounds).

Thunder

The #2 seed Bulldogs opened Section 5AAA play last Wedneday by hosting Zimmerman in a quarterfinal game that saw Becker shoot 39% from the three-point line in a 67-54 victory over the Thunder.

Becker had a slim 27-24 halftime lead before taking over in the second half behind some aggressive play. The Bulldogs were on the attack all evening, as evidenced by their 19 free throw attempts (making 13) to the Thunder’s 10 (making eight).

The home team also took care of the ball, only committing 11 turnovers.  

“Zimmerman battled hard, but we made enough plays to get the win,” Coach Joh Ihrke said.

Becker scoring: Alex Weiss, six (four assists); Nick Berglund, six; Julias Hendricks, 10; Hayden Harmoning, two (four assists); Eric Seavert, 24; Brady Paumen, 14; Carter Callahan, five (five rebounds).