I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Jan. 17, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
Larry Smith scored 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting to lead the Beavers men's basketball team (7-9, 1-2 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) to their first conference win Saturday 73-70 over Moorhead State (3-14, 0-3 NSIC) at BSU Gymnasium.
Prior to the game, Beavers coach Dave Gunther hoped his team could accomplish two things versus the Dragons in their NSIC opener.
First, he wanted to shut down MSU's big three scoring threats, and, second, he wanted to decrease BSU's number of unforced turnovers.
Bemidji State accomplished both ... sort of.
The Beavers did bring their turnovers down to 13, and they held MSU's Damian Green and Tim Williams to a combined eight points.
But Dragon forward Tunde Adelekan was on fire in the first half, scoring 19, and finishing with 26.
"We had to contain No. 43 (Adelekan). We knew that," Gunther said of MSU's shooter. "We weren't too good at that in the first half, but we got better in the second."
Adelekan had accounted for more than half of the Dragons' offense in the first half, but the Beavers limited him to just seven points on 3-of-10 shooting in the second.
As for MSU's other scorers, the Beavers kept them in check all night.
Williams, who leads the team with 14.7 points per game, scored only five, and Green made only one shot all night -- a three-pointer.
"I think we did a decent job on them," Gunther added.
Offensively, the Beavers were led by Smith, who also provided the team with some defensive spark with a monstrous block and three big steals -- one of which led to a breakaway two-handed dunk in the first half.
Three other Beavers finished in double figures as well with Joey Riccio following with 14, nine of which came on three important second half treys that slowly inched the Beavers to their first double-digit lead.
"That was a big help," Gunther said of the three treys coming three minutes apart. "But we also hit some free throws down the stretch, and got some defensive stops that helped."
B.J. LaVelle finished with 10, and Mac Smith had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
The Beavers next host Minnesota-Morris at home Wednesday at BSU Gymnasium.
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