BEMIDJI 鈥� Through 35 minutes, Austin Riewer had taken five 3-point attempts.
He missed all of them.
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However, when he was wide open on the wing with just under a minute left, the Bemidji High 歪歪漫画 boys basketball junior forward made his sixth try when it mattered most.
It was a deep ball that tied the game at 65-65, knotting the score for the first time since the game tipped off.
鈥淚 mean, shooters shoot,鈥� Riewer said with a smile. 鈥淚 was kind of bricking early. But when you're that open, you can't miss those. I wasn鈥檛 missing that shot. After missing five, that one felt really good.鈥�
On the Sabres鈥� ensuing try, Riewer grabbed a contested rebound to regain possession for the Lumberjacks with 38 seconds left. After head coach Steve Thompson called timeout, Riewer converted a hard-nosed layup to give BHS a two-point lead on his 19th and 20th points.
鈥淗e鈥檚 not afraid to take those shots, and that鈥檚 big,鈥� Thompson said of Riewer鈥檚 buckets in the final minute. 鈥淭o have the confidence to just keep shooting the ball, that鈥檚 not a trait everybody has. But he does, and that was a big shot in a big moment for us.鈥�
Sartell drew up a play for Bennett Bommersbach 鈥� who finished with a team-high 23 points. With three seconds left, his 3-pointer clanked off the rim.
Riewer, again, grabbed the victory-sealing rebound.
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鈥淲e just talked about (having) great communication,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淚n order to get a stop at that time, you have to have it. In that last five minutes, we gave up four points, or something like that. We knew we needed to turn it up on the defensive end if we were going to go on a run and pull this out. The boys believed, and then they executed.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty big win,鈥� Riewer said. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 done the best against section teams so far. Getting a win in the section is always a good feeling. 鈥� It shows our grit. We have a really hard working group of guys. We never gave up.鈥�
It鈥檚 a 67-65 win that felt improbable midway through the second half.
The Sabres opened the frame with a 35-25 lead. The margin grew to 49-34 with less than 10 minutes to play.
Jeron Huseby did his part to spark the Jacks鈥� first run in erasing the 15-point deficit. He poured in a 3-pointer and a floater to cap a 9-2 Bemidji run that cut into Sartell鈥檚 lead. Jaxon Boschee nailed a pair of free throws to make it 54-51 with less than six minutes remaining.
The Sabres answered with a 7-1 run before Riewer鈥檚 turn-around layup made it 61-54 with 3:50 left in regulation. It set the table for a near-logo 3 from Boschee to cut the deficit to three with 2:07 left.
鈥淲e needed consecutive stops,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淲e needed to keep them out of the paint, and we did better in that area of the game in the second half. Extending the floor defensively kind of pushed them out a little bit and pushed them off their spots in half-court sets. Those two factors were huge. Being able to apply pressure the entire second half was big for us.鈥�
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Stops were hard to come by for the Lumberjacks in the first half.
After Bemidji scored nine consecutive points to erase a 5-0 deficit, Sartell roped off a 13-2 stretch that forced Thompson to take a timeout. The run extended to 19-3, giving the Sabres a 24-12 edge midway through the first half.
BHS answered with another 7-0 run, with the help of a hard-earned layup and a free throw out of Rhys Sneide.
On a night when the Jacks got 46 points out of Boschee and Riewer, the supplemental scoring from Huseby, Sneide, Charlie Zellmann and Hudson Pink all sparked runs in Bemidji鈥檚 comeback win. The quadrant combined for 21 points, including 13 from Huseby.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so important to get that scoring,鈥� Riewer said. 鈥淲hen someone is struggling or not hitting shots, that鈥檚 huge for us, that鈥檚 huge for any team. We need that scoring to get wins like this.鈥�
Bemidji (8-3) entered Tuesday鈥檚 contest with three losses, all of them against Section 8-4A teams. Knocking off Sartell (5-8) not only gave the Lumberjacks a leg up in section play, but it also proved that BHS is capable of rallying late in games to erase big leads.
鈥淚 hope the big takeaway is that we鈥檙e never out of a game, regardless of opponent or magnitude of the game,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淚 hope they realize they have the ability to sustain runs in critical moments so they can pull out these games in the end.鈥�
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Bemidji 67, Sartell 65
SAR 35 30 鈥� 65
BHS 25 42 鈥� 67
Bemidji 鈥� Boschee 26, Riewer 20, Huseby 13, Sneide 3, Zellmann 3, Pink 2.
Sartell 鈥� Bommersbach 23, Lewis 11, Stutsman 10, Tavale 8, Durrwachter 4, Simones 4, Schuman 3, Bergstrom 2.
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