The Cloquet boys basketball team had hoped to get a good idea of where they are at this season during their game on Saturday night against Grand Rapids. What they found out was the Thunderhawks had too much fire power to overcome in a 74-53 loss.
"We came out pretty flat," explained Cloquet coach Steve Battaglia. "They are physical and they beat us up and we got down early it is as simple as that."
The young Jacks got a big dose of Ryan Gibeau and Brandon Moberg who finished with 22 and 18 points and enough of Nate Drobnick who added 16 for Grand Rapids.
"We just are not strong enough physically yet to stay with them," commented Battaglia. "They got up by 10 points on us right away and they played better defense."
The Lumberjacks trailed 36-28 after the first half and in the second half the Thunderhawks outscored Cloquet 38-25.
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"We have a good group of guys who are very capable of playing at a higher level," stated Battaglia. "We need to get on the same page and put it together. We have five or six guys who have had some nice games for us, but now we have to start having them put their best game out on the floor at the same time and every night."
One player who had a strong game for the Jacks was Ryan Erkilla. The junior dumped in 19 points while Andy Kochneff contributed 12 points. Also scoring were Cory Koning and Ryan Lindstrom with six, Tony Nelson added five, Chad Calcaterra finished with two and Derek Johnson had a point.
"I am not disappointed with our effort," commented Battaglia. "The guys are working hard at trying to get to a higher level and we'll just keep working at it."
Cloquet will play at home on Friday in a homecoming matchup against Denfeld.
Pine Journal sports reporter Kerry Rodd can be contacted at: kdrodd@aol.com .
