A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Cloquet forward Nick Flynn (5) shoots past the hands of Cardinals senior Marcus Pocernich (1) during the Wood City Classic.
Cloquet sophomore Adam Schneider dribbles past Cardinals senior Jaden Gronner. Cloquet won the game 62-60.
The Cloquet Lumberjacks extended their hometown advantage to capture both boys and girls titles in the annual Wood City Classic the past week.
Two performances stood out during the three-day boys tournament last week. The Lumberjacks boys team defeated a gritty and hard working Cromwell-Wright team 62-60 Thursday afternoon to set up a meeting with a unbeaten and state-ranked Pine City squad Friday night. Again, the Lumberjacks came out on top, 58-52, to capture a share of the championship.
"I think we're starting to turn the corner," said head coach Steve Battaglia. "We are playing much better ball and to play two team that could be in the state tournament was good for us."
Cloquet senior Alex Leuzzo scored 18 points in Thursday's game, including several free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
The Cardinals led throughout most of the first half but a late run put Cloquet in front 31-30 at the break. The second half saw the 'Jacks lead most of the way until the Cardinals' Jaden Gronner scored a 3-pointer to gave the Cards a five-point lead late in the second half. The Lumberjacks battled back and took a late lead on a Marcus Pokornowski layup. The Cardinals could not connect from the field late forcing the Cardinals to foul and the 'Jacks went on to the two-point win.
On Friday, the Pine City Dragons came in 6-0 on the season. The Dragons have a reputation for shooting the ball from downtown and putting up impressive offensive numbers, but it was the Lumberjacks - led by sophomore Adam Schneider's 19 points - that ended the Dragons hopes of remaining unbeaten. Solid defense and timely shooting led the 'Jacks to their fifth victory of the season and a 5-5 overall record.
The victory gave the Lumberjacks a shared boys title as the Denfeld Hunters also defeated Cromwell-Wright 61-56 Friday afternoon and topped the Dragons 80-72 Saturday.
Although the Cardinals didn't win a game in the tournament, both Battaglia and Denfeld coach Mike Devney gave high praise to the well coached team, calling them a "very dangerous team."
The girls portion of the tournament saw Lumberjack senior Kendra Kelley score 43 points in the two-day tournament to lead the way for the girls to the championship.
Allie Wojtysiak scored 20 points and Kelley chipped in 18 as the 'Jacks routed St. Croix Prep 70-25 Thursday. Cloquet led 43-21 at the break and held the Lions to only 4 second-half points.
On Friday, Kelley scored 17 of her team's first 20 points on the way to another blowout win over Minneapolis Edison 62-18. The Lumberjacks again had a stellar second half defensive performance allowing the Tommies just five points in the half on the way to the 44-point win.
Like the boys, the girls shared the 2018 title with Northwestern of Maple, Wis., as the Tigers also went unbeaten in the tournament,
defeating St. Croix Prep 66-41 Friday and knocking off Edison by a score of 73-43 on Saturday.
The girls moved to 7-3 on the season. They were in action again Thursday against Proctor as this issue of the Pine Knot News went to press. The boys will welcome Duluth East to Cloquet Middle School Saturday night.
