BEMIDJI 鈥� Abe Soumis stole the show on Tuesday night at the BHS Gymnasium.
The Bemidji High 歪歪漫画 boys basketball team had rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit to lead Hermantown 69-59, placing the Lumberjacks on the precipice of perhaps their best win this season. But Soumis wouldn鈥檛 let it happen.
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The Hawks鈥� senior sensation scored 20 of Hermantown鈥檚 final 29 points, powering a surge that dragged the Hawks to an 88-81 victory. He finished the night with 55 in all, resetting Hermantown鈥檚 single-game school record for the third time in his high school career.
鈥淚t's a little disheartening to lose tonight when we played as well as we did,鈥� said BHS head coach Steve Thompson. 鈥淏ut when a player goes off for 55, it's tough. I don't know how many shots he even missed in the second half. I know he didn't miss a free throw. He had a night.鈥�
Soumis poured in 28 points in the first half, carrying Hermantown (11-5) to a 47-39 halftime advantage. But his star turn really took center stage in the second half, when he delivered bucket after bucket in crunch time as the Hawks retook the lead and held off the Lumberjacks late.
鈥淲e wanted to pick him up really, really early (defensively),鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淎nd then we wanted to double(-team) every touch that he got and not allow a touch. And if there was a touch, we wanted to double it. (But) he scored through doubles. He hit deep shots. He didn't miss many.鈥�
The Jacks (6-9) did yeoman鈥檚 work to chip away at the sizable deficit and eventually take their double-digit second-half lead. Jaxon Boschee commenced a 14-0 run with back-to-back 3-pointers, then Owen Frazer and Braden Luksik added buckets. Boschee finished off the run by nailing a deep 3 with his feet on the volleyball court鈥檚 10-foot line, well beyond the 3-point arc. Bemidji led 58-52 after Boschee鈥檚 statement shot.
鈥淚 knew we could score,鈥� said Thompson. 鈥淪o I said we had to stay the course offensively and maintain our aggressiveness offensively. We needed to collectively get stops and rebounds. I was proud. We played a long stretch where we defended really well and we rebounded the basketball offensively and defensively. But Soumis was just a little too much tonight.鈥�
Hermantown advanced to the Class 3A state tournament last season, losing 84-82 to Orono in the quarterfinals. And while the Jacks didn鈥檛 come out on top, they can confidently declare that they were awfully close 鈥� and that things could have gone differently were it not for Soumis鈥� historic night.
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鈥淭hey have a really good shot at winning their section,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淎nd we just played a great basketball game and had an opportunity to win that game. So there's a lot to be proud of. I told them, 鈥楰eep your heads high.鈥�
鈥溾�� I like the way we're playing right now. You can't predict a 55-point game. But if you can be predictable and defend really well and move the ball well on offense, you're going to win a lot of games. We're moving in that direction. We'd win a lot of games if we played like we did today.鈥�
Boschee matched Soumis for much of the game and finished two points shy of his career high with 31. Luksik worked the post for 14, and Kobe Brown reached 10 points.
鈥淲e had timely shooting by a lot of different players that made shots when we needed them to,鈥� Thompson said.
Hermantown 88, Bemidji 81
HER 47 41 鈥� 88
BHS 39 42 鈥� 81
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BEMIDJI 鈥� Boschee 31, Luksik 14, Brown 10, Huseby 8, Frazer 7, Riewer 6, Zellmann 3, Oelrich 2.
HERMANTOWN 鈥� Soumis 55, Hill 10, Menzel 9, Lundeen 7, Janson 5, Schott 2.
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