The Becker boys basketball team split two games this past week, beating Big Lake last Friday night at home and losing to Princeton Tuesday in Becker.
Becker 73, Big Lake 70
In a game that featured several lead changes and a tightly-contested match, the Bulldogs eventually prevailed by three points.
The Bulldogs were led by Lucas Dertinger, who tallied 29 points. Dertinger looked unstoppable as he regularly nailed deep outside shots — then, would put on a head fake and drive to the basket for several scoop shots.
Dertinger also had four assists, one steal, one blocked shot and eight rebounds. He was seven-of-20 from the floor and four-of-12 from three-point land.
Big Lake’s Logan Nagorski was hard to stop for the Bulldogs as he scored 33 points while notching three assists and seven rebounds.
Brendan Gustafson provided the muscle underneath for the Bulldogs as he tallied 15 points and pulled down six rebounds. He also had one blocked shot.
Justin Kringler led the Bulldogs with six assists while scoring six points. He also had five rebounds.
Becker finished with 11 fast-break points compared to two for Big Lake. Both teams scored 14 points off turnovers and Becker shot 39% from the floor in comparison to 34% for Big Lake.
“I was proud of how the guys came together to make plays when they were critical to the game on the offensive and defensive side of the ball,” said Head Coach Josh Ihrke. “Brandon Gustafson played well and was a force inside. Lucas Dertinger had a good game controlling the tempo and leading the team.”
Becker scoring: Dertinger 29, Gustafson 15, Caleb Quernemoen 11, Kringler 6, Sam Ricker 5 and Cade Callahan 4.
Big Lake scoring: Nagorski 33, Drew Rudlong 22, Jake Ireland 4, Trey Teige 3, Jacob O’Brien 2, B. Josewski 2 and Chase Balogi 2.
Princeton 93, Becker 84
Tuesday, Becker hosted the Tigers and lost by nine.
The Bulldogs stayed tight with Princeton for most of the first half and finished off the first half being behind by just two at 42-40. However, Princeton got the jump in the second half and outscored the Bulldogs, 53-42 the rest of the way.
“Princeton did a nice job of speeding us up and it led to us making costly turnovers at critical parts of the game,” said Ihrke. “The team shot the ball really well. When we were in control offensively we played well defensively. We have to be better at making good decisions and getting quality offensive and defensive possessions.”
Becker was led once again by Dertinger, who recorded 35 points, three assists, one steal, and six rebounds.
Princeton was led by Jon Stimmler, who had 25 points, one assist and eight rebounds.
Princeton recorded 15 fast-break points as compared to just eight for Becker. The Tigers also had 27 points off turnovers while Becker had just 16.
The Bulldogs shot 49% from the field compared to 53% for Princeton. The Bulldogs were able to stay close in the game, thanks to great outside shooting where they recorded 16 three-pointers in 30 attempts for a percentage of 53%. Princeton shot just 30% from outside the arch, going six-of-20.
Becker scoring: Dertinger 35, Quernemoen 15, Ricker 9, Kringler 8, Gustafson 7, Josh Fobbe 6 and Callahan 4.
Princeton scoring: Stimmler 25, James Flicek 20, Tate Laabs 12, Nathan Mueller 12, Calvin Peterson 9, Adam Williams 9 and Logan Miller 5.
Up Next
The Bulldogs host Monticello Saturday (today) at 2:30 p.m., then hit the road to St. Cloud Cathedral Tuesday and Milaca Friday.
