Last Friday, the Becker boys basketball team opened Mississippi 8 Conference action with a 92-77 win at St. Francis.

“Our goal going into the game was to increase our pace of play,” Coach Cory Nuest said.  “We had a season high 30 assists so it was really fun to see our guys share the ball, play for each other, and have a lot of fun doing it.”

The Bulldogs started the game with the fast pace of Troy Nuest and Landon Peterson pushing the ball up the court on offense and this created open shots and a few early jumpers by Sawyer Brown and Mitch Soltau.  From there, it was an even first half, with the Saints carving out a two point halftime advantage.

After the break, Becker found its game and used five defensive stops in a row to take a 63-55 lead, but the Saints weren’t done, using a timeout to restart their offense and climb back to tie it at 67 apiece.  

From there, Becker’s ball-handlers took over and drove to the hoop, finding Bryce Paumen cutting to the basket.

“Bryce did an amazing job of cutting and our guys did a great job finding him on his way to a 31 point night,” Nuest said of Paumen’s career high night.  “Landon Peterson was aggressive in attacking the hoop and being a playmaker.”

Overall, Nuest was extremely pleased with his team’s balanced approach.

“Troy Nuest did a fantastic job handling their full court pressure and finished with nine assists and only one turnover and Isiah Boyer hit a huge three and forced a big turnover down the stretch,” Nuest added.  “Sawyer Brown was relentless attacking the hoop on his way to seven assists and he also had nine rebounds”

Stats: Paumen 31 pts, nine rebounds; Soltau five pts; Peterson 24 points, six assists, seven rebounds; Brown 16 pts, nine rebounds, seven assists; Nuest eight pts, nine assists, five rebounds; Boyer eight pts, five assists.

Vs. Tigers

Last Tuesday night, Becker fell to Delano, 69-73.  

Becker trailed by 11 at halftime and Coach Nuest challenged his team to “to play with grit, pride, defend, and to attack the rim.”  

Soltau started the comeback with a quick three to start the second stanza, but it was back and forth until seven minutes remaining when the Dogs went on their run.

Nuest credited Paumen with a “fantastic” job on the glass, grabbing 11 rebounds, while Brown poured in 14 second half points.  

With just two minutes remaining, Troy Nuest drained a deep three to ignite the crowd and tie the game.  However, the Bulldogs couldn’t hang on in against a very good Tigers team.

Stats: Soltau 19 pts, four assists; Peterson 10 pts, four assists; Paumen 12 points, 11 rebounds; Brown 19 points, five assists; Nuest three pts, five deflections/steals; Boyer six pts, five rebounds, Saul Kreft four rebounds.

Vs. Vikings

Tuesday night, Becker traveled to North Branch and came home with a 90-68 win behind a strong second half offensive performance.

Becker led by 10, 36-26, in a slow moving first half only to see an offensive explosion after the break lead to the convincing win.

Peterson and Nuest’s fast pace point guard play created multiple opportunities for their teammates leading to 54 points in the second half.

Nathan Weiss returned from an injury and led the team with 20 points, while Paumen and Brown each chipped in 19.

“We played unselfish basketball with 25 team assists, especially in the second half then the pace increased as well as our ball movement,” Nuest said.  “We responded well whenever North Branch made a run. The boys answered and showed a lot of mental toughness and togetherness.”

Defensively, the effort was also there, as Troy Nuest led the team with the most deflections.

Friday night, the team was slated to host Willmar and over Christmas, the team will play on December 27 and 28 in the Sartell Invitational (28th game will be played at St. John’s University).