Valiant Second Half Fight Not Enough to Overcome Wolfpack's Shooting Struggles

Bemidji, MN – A valiant effort to overcome a 15 point halftime deficit fell just short for the Oak Hills Christian College Men's Basketball team tonight. The final buzzer showed an ending score of 50-52 after Oak Hills scored 3 points in the final 11 seconds to close the gap to just 1 point before the Itasca Community College Vikings were able to secure the win with a free throw in the final second.

The Wolfpack continued to struggle with their shooting tonight. The first half saw their shooting percentage be just under 18% from the floor and only making one 3-pointer.

The Vikings shot out to a 6-16 lead after the first five minutes of play. Oak Hills was able to close that gap to five points after a 3-pointer from freshman Ben Chavez Rodriguez (Woodbury, MN) and a pair of free throws from freshman Noah Larson (Park Rapids, MN) came with 13 minutes left in the half.

With the score reaching 12-19, both teams would go scoreless for a stretch of over two minutes until a layup off of an offensive rebound would give Itasca a nine point lead with just over nine minutes left in the half.

The Vikings would get their largest lead of the half after a 3-pointer came with just under five minutes left. A steal and a fast break layup from Oak Hills would put the score at 16-31, and both teams would go the last four minutes without scoring.

Larson would lead the Wolfpack in the first half with 5 points and 5 rebounds. Chavez Rodriguez contributed 3 points and 4 rebounds. Junior Bryson Keepers (Sheldon, WI) would add 4 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block during the first half of play.

With a 15 point hole to dig themselves out of, the Wolfpack would look to fight back. After allowing a quick five points to be scored against them, Oak Hills would go on a 10-0 run led by Senior Alexander Gonzalez (Miami, FL) who added four points and an assist during the stretch of scoring.

With just over seven minutes left in the half, and the score at 31-46, the Wolfpack would go on another run to try to close the gap and would outscore the Vikings 8-2 over the next three minutes to bring the score to 39-48.

A 3-pointer from freshman Caleb Smoot (McDonough, GA) with 2:34 left followed by a layup from Gonzalez would bring the score to 46-51. With the gap closing, the Wolfpack would do everything they could to make defensive stops. An offensive rebound and layup from Larson would bring the score within one point with only two seconds left, but the Vikings would be able to get the ball in and a foul would give them a free throw to close the score at 50-52.

Coach Lundeen had this to say about his team tonight, "We played incredibly hard. If we were able to shake the shooting struggles, we could have gotten the win. We gave up way too many rebounds in the first half, but we came out and only gave up two rebounds in the second half. I am incredibly proud of how hard we fought and played together tonight."

Oak Hills was led by Larson, who ended his 4 straight game with a double-double. Larson had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Gonzalez added 10 points and Smoot would contribute 9 points and 7 rebounds.

The Wolfpack will be back in action on Friday, December 13^th to play their final game of the 2024 calendar year against Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponent, the Free Lutheran Bible College Conquerors.