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.
March 5, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
Not unlike the parable of David and Goliath, fourth-seeded Menahga finished top-ranked Laporte's run in Sub-Section 6A East semifinal action Thursday at BSU Gymnasium.
Even though Laporte had three players in their starting lineup bigger than Menahga's tallest player, the oversized Wildcats were outthought, outrun and simply outplayed in the 64-59 loss to the Braves.
"I told them all week, 'You gotta believe when you come in and they did,'" first-year Menahga coach Bryan Strand said. "They believed."
The Braves -- who were beaten by Laporte by 20 and 23 points in two regular season affairs -- entered the contest hoping to spread the Laporte defense wide thereby diminishing their size advantage.
And they did just that.
Sometimes with three perimeter players standing 15 to 20 feet past the three point line, the Braves played a ball control game and managed to keep the gigantic Wildcats from crashing the paint.
A typical possession included 10 to 12 passes among guards Derek Dormanen, Derek Rasmussen and Justin Keranen, a lightning quick break for the hoop and a dish to one of the open forwards Dustin Berttunen or Travis Lusti.
In fact, the Braves were so intent on ball control that Strand once called for his team to take the first quarter's last shot with 1:15 seconds left on the clock.
"We knew what their team could do. That's why we played the way we did," Strand said. "That's been our game plan all week ... spread the big buys out. I just can't be more pleased with how my team played."
And when the Braves weren't driving to the hoop, they were sinking their shots from the outside. They finished 20-of-44 (45 percent) from the field, even though they shot just 6-of-20 from behind the three-point line.
"We take a lot of threes. We've attempted 452 three-pointers this year," Strand said, "but I've never yelled at a kid for taking an open shot. If they are open, they should shoot."
Despite losing, Laporte's Tom Roerick and Justin Bessler scored 25 and 14 respectively, and the Wildcats shot an excellent 26-of-47 (55 percent).
But they hardly reached the free throw line and put Menahga's Rasmussen on the line too many times in the fourth.
He canned 12-of-14 shots from the charity stripe, easily keeping the Braves out of reach of the Wildcats. He scored 23 points overall.
"He had to stand up," Strand said of his leading scorer.
Menahga upped its record to 11-13 overall, and will face its arch rival in second-ranked Sebeka Saturday for the Sub-Section 6A East championship game at 7 p.m. at BSU Gymnasium.
The two schools are only eight miles apart.
Laporte finished its season with a 16-5 overall record.
Wildcats coach Joel White refused to comment about the game.
Sebeka 51, Lake Region Christian 41
The second-ranked Sebeka Trojans moved into the Sub-Section 6A East championship game to face Menagha with a 51-41 semifinal win over Lake Region Christian of Baxter Thursday at BSU Gymnasium.
Josh Lilliquest led the Trojans with 13 points, and Gregg Crabb added 10.
Jeremy Perlinger led Lake Region Christian with 14.
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