The Becker boys basketball team’s season came to an end Tuesday evening with a 62-42 loss at Big Lake in the opening round of the Section 5AAA playoffs.

 

The Bulldogs looked sharp in the opening minutes, leading early with precise, outside shooting. But as the game developed, the magic began to fade. 

 

Sam Ricker opened the scoring with a three-pointer 16 seconds into the game. After Big Lake scored and made a stop on defense, they scored again to pull ahead by two. However, Nick Mittelsteadt hit a three-pointer and Ricker connected on another from outside the arc to put the Bulldogs ahead, 9-5. 

 

Three minutes later, Becker’s 6’5” forward Cade Callahan found an opening on the baseline and scored inside for an 11-8 lead. The visitors were feeling good, but that mood quickly dwindled. 

 

Big Lake’s zone defense became a problem the Bulldogs couldn’t solve. With the Hornets up 15-11, Mittelsteadt hit his second three-pointer to pull within a point with nine minutes left in the first half.

 

But Big Lake went on a 7-0 run over the next four minutes for a 22-14 lead.

 

It was when the Hornets went to a man-to-man defense, that the Bulldogs tried to move the ball inside to their center and forwards, Brandon Gustafson, Lindbom and Callahan. Gustafson was able to drain a shot inside and Callahan drove for a score, was fouled and sank the free throw to close the gap to 22-19 with 3:25 left in the half.

 

But the Hornets responded again and outscored the Bulldogs 8-2 to take a 30-21 lead at the break.

 

Becker made some adjustments in the locker room and opened the second half strong, with Callahan sinking a free throw, then driving for a score to pull within six points.

 

However, the Hornets didn’t back down and easily converted two layups. After  the Bulldogs were called for two offensive fouls, the Hornets hit two three-pointers for a 40-24 lead with 13:46 left that took the wind out of Becker’s sails.

 

Callahan and Gustafson worked the ball inside again for scores, but the Bulldogs really struggled from the outside, missing four straight three-point attempts before Ricker found the range with 8:55 left.

 

Rebounding was an issue for Becker as Big Lake kept winning the battle of the boards on both offense and defense. The Hornets’ lead had grown to 49-33 when Callahan picked up his fifth foul on a charge with 5:45 left and headed to the bench.

 

With Callahan out, Becker’s big game got smaller and they moved from feeding passes inside to sending up bombs from beyond the arc. Not much success was there. 

 

On defense, all the Bulldogs could do was commit fouls to try and stop the clock — and the Hornets. But Big Lake stayed poised and converted 13 of 16 free throws down the stretch to extend their lead until the final buzzer.

 

Becker scoring: Gustafson 12, S. Ricker 9, Callahan 8, Nick Mittelsteadt 6, Lindbom 5, Carter Hietala 2.

 

Big Lake scoring: Logan Nagorski 17, Jake Ireland 14, Trey Teige 12, DeVonne Harris 9, Spencer Hinrichs 7, Brady Josewski 2, Jack Iverson 1.

 

No. 4 seeded Big Lake (12-15) moved on to play #1-seeded Delano (18-9) Friday night. Becker finished the season 10-16