Huskies Rally Early but Panthers are Too Much

After falling behind right away Wednesday night, Owatonna rallied to pull within one point midway through the first half. Then Lakeville North relentlessly powered their way to a big halftime lead and eliminated the Huskies from the Section 1AAAA boys' basketball playoffs 86-46 at North High.

The Panthers burst ahead 11-0 with several free throws and a few fast break buckets. The Huskies didn't score until nearly three-and-a-half minutes had expired. But OHS went on a 17-7 run to make the score 18-17. Owatonna seniors Jack Hanson and Jared Fett got the scoring started and combined for 18 of the Huskies' 25 first-half points.

North led 50-25 at halftime due to a 21-2 run shortly after OHS drew close. After missing their four three-point attempts, the Panthers could hardly miss from behind the arc, hitting eight of their next ten attempts. They added six more treys in the second half.

Future Wisconsin Badger Tyler Wahl scored just 11 points but grabbed 10 rebounds. The Panthers controlled the boards 36-21 for the game. Future St. Johns Johnnie Tommy Jensen led North with 16 points which included four triples. Tate Staloch had 15 points for Lakeville which also included four three-pointers.

The Panthers started the second half with a nine-point run and kept the Huskies off the board for the first three-and-a-half minutes again. OHS put together a couple of short runs but couldn't prevent North from putting the game into running time.

Owatonna finished the season at 7-20. Seniors include Fett, Hanson, Braydn Larson and Steven Eckard.

Lakeville North (23-4) will face Lakeville South in the section semifinals scheduled for Saturday, March 9 at 6:30 pm at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester. South beat Farmington 71-51 Wednesday.

New Prague and Rochester JM will face off in the other semifinal. The Trojans beat Rochester Mayo 74-65 Wednesday, while John Marshall pulled away from Century 87-70. Matthew Hurt scored 41 for the Rockets.