Faribault Boys Basketball Impressive in Victory over Owatonna

The Faribault Falcons outscored the Owatonna Huskies by 20 points in the paint in a convincing 60-45 win in Owatonna on Thursday night.

Faribault had 36 points and Owatonna 16 in the paint in what I thought was the statistic of the game.

Faribault ran their offense to near perfection in the first half, taking a 26-19 halftime lead, and scored 18 points while limiting Owatonna to six points in the lane.

The Falcons exhibited timely passes that led to layups and ran some precision in-bounds plays for easy buckets while defending very well.

Six-foot-1 senior Brady Combs scored 20 points to lead the way, 6-foot-8 junior Kade Hart had 13 points, 6-foot-3 senior Win Hunter added 11, and 6-foot-4 junior T.J. Hunt collected 10 points.

Those four Falcons, along with 6-foot-2 junior Chase Ernste, started the game and were named our Faribault State Farm agents Faribault players of the game.

Six-foot-1 junior Jay Sullivan and 6-foot-6 senior Mason Thein were the only Huskies in double figures, with 12 points each.

Faribault was 11 of 20 from the free throw line and Owatonna was 4 of 6.

The win gives Faribault a sweep of Owatonna, the first time that's happened in a very long time.

The victory also snapped a four-game losing streak for Faribault and improved their conference record to 7-9 and overall record to 10-10 with six regular season games left.

The Falcons host Albert Lea on Saturday night at 7:30PM.

Owatonna has Northfield come to town Tuesday. The Huskies are 9-8 in the Big Nine and 12-9 overall.

In other Big Nine contests Thursday night, John Marshall downed Austin 73-56 in Rochester. Winona defeated Kasson-Mantorville 59-46, Rochester Mayo edged Mankato West 62-20, Rochester Century nipped Albert Lea 65-62 in overtime and Red Wing remained unbeaten after manhandling Stewartville 64-42.

In the Gopher Conference, Goodhue rolled by Blooming Prairie 75-29, Schaeffer Academy beat Medford 69-58 and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown defeated NRHEG 71-59.

In other boys basketball, Randolph edged Triton 45-44 and St. Charles dominated Zumbrota-Mazeppa 81-54. Belle Plaine downed Tri-City United in Montgomery 65-57. Shakopee defeated Lakeville South  86-76