GATOR BOYS LOSE PAIR OF GAMES AT HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT

     Coming off a much needed Christmas break the BGMR Gator Boys Basketball team traveled to Northern Cass School (North Dakota) for the Northern Cass Holiday Tournament.  In the first ever meeting between Medina-Pingree-Buchanan and the Gators the Thunder were able to capitalize on 23 Gator turnovers and poor Gator free throw shooting to come away with a 49-43 victory over the Gators.
     The Thunder would take a 22-15 lead into halftime.  The Gators were in the holiday mood as they generously gave the ball away when they were on offense.  Although the Gators came out in the second half and managed to tie the game BGMR was a horrific 9 for 25 or 36% from the foul line.  This spelled the doom for the Gators as the simply gave away to many offensive possessions.
     Aaron Dostal continued his strong play as he had 15 points and 10 rebounds.  Matt Howell scored 8 points  with no other Gator being close to double figures.  Nick Blaskowski poured in 22 points for the Thunder.  He was joined in double digit scoring by Cody Horn who notched 11 points.  The loss pushed the Gators into the third and fourth place game where they would meet Park River-Fordville-Lankin.

AGGIES BLOW OVER GATORS

     Gator Nation traveled through some treacherous road conditions but were left with disappointment as a young Park River-Fordville-Lankin team cruised to a 48-34 victory over the Gators.  The Gators trailed at halftime 24-21 but were again able to tie the game midway through the second half.  Unfortunately the common turnover theme crept up on the Gators again as they had 32 turnovers for the game.  The Aggies blistered the net from 3 point range as they made 9 of 16 (56%).  BGMR had no answer for this and suffered their 5th loss in a row.
     Aaron Dostal continued to lead the Gator offense as he had 21points and 6 rebounds.  Darius Watson had 6 points and Brayden Larson had a career high 8 rebounds.  The Aggies were led by Jordan Johnson who had 22 points, killing the Gators with 6 three pointers.  Spencer Rehovsky netted 9 points for the Aggies.
     The Gators are going to have to do a much better job of taking care of the ball as they start the second part of their season.  When BGMR has limited their turnovers and shot moderately well they have put themselves in position to win.  Unfortunately, this has not been occurring enough.  Lack of effort cannot be questioned as several Gator players are giving it all they got.  Things will not get any easier for BGMR over the next few days.  Today the Gators travel to Warren to take on a streaking Warren-Alvarado-Oslo team.  The Ponies are playing well and will be a tough match-up.  BGMR will continue the grind when they travel to Baudette tomorrow to take on the Lake of the Woods Bears.  The Bears have struggled this season but BGMR is in no position to overlook any team.  The Gators hope to start playing some good basketball and get all cylinders firing at the same time.