The Becker Bulldog boys basketball team saw its season come to a close last Friday in a Section game, as they fell to the Fridley Tigers, 55-53.  The Bulldogs came into the game as the #4 seed, while the Tigers were seeded #5.

“We came out and executed a good defensive game plan against Fridley, as we knew their strength was getting to the rim and finishing,” said Coach Josh Ihrke.  “I was proud of how our guys bought into the game plan on that end of the floor to give us a chance to win.”

The Bulldogs struggled offensively in the opening half, falling behind 22-16 going into the locker room.  The deficit proved to be a bit too much to overcome.

“In the first half we just had too many opportunities where the ball just did not go through the hoop,” said Ihrke.  “We had good attempts but just did not finish well at the rim and instead of up 6-10 points we were down six at the half.”

But as the Bulldogs had done before this season, thanks to a few halftime adjustments they came out to play a better brand of basketball in the second half.

“We battled our way back into the game in the second half but Fridley made free throws down the stretch to win the game,” added Ihrke, whose team outscored Fridley 37-33 in the second stanza.

Despite the loss, Ihrke was impressed with how his team progressed from the early season and put together a string of impressive victories despite facing a good deal of uncertainty from the season’s onset.

“I am proud of this team and the growth that we had throughout the year, as we went from being predicted to finish at the bottom of the Mississippi 8 Conference to finishing fourth and earning the #4 seed in the section and being able to host a playoff game,” said Ihrke.

For the game, Becker actually out-rebounded the Tigers 30-20 and were nearly even in points in the paint (28 for Becker to 30 for Fridley). 

Ihrke also tipped his hat to the two seniors on the team, each of whom provided a good deal of leadership to the squad.

“I am proud of the leadership of our seniors Nick Knute and Carson Makarrall — they will be missed next year,” said Ihrke.  “I’m also happy to see the growth that each guy had throughout the year because we are better now as basketball players and people then we were at the beginning of the season.”

Becker scoring: Alex Weiss 2, Nick Berglund 4, Nick Knute 10, Eric Seavert 13, Brady Pausen 13, Carter Callahan 5, Landen Goebel 6.

Academic Champs

Ihrke also announced this week that his team was named the Section 5 AAA Academic Champions with a cumulative GPA of 3.64.

“This is the first time as head coach that we have earned that award,” said Ihrke.  “We are proud of our student athletes.”