Badgers Basketball Weekly Report

Another successful week of Badger basketball is in the books. With our season nearing its conclusion, the Badgers once again had 3 nights of basketball this past week.

Tuesday the Badgers loaded up and took a trip to Valier. The JV started the night off; this game was handed to the JV bench, and our 2nd unit easily took care of business, winning the contest 46-9. Conner Mann and Drake Lange led the scoring with 11. Tanner Jacobs and Trent Lane added 8. Martin Bodnar scored 5 and Deyton Raether added 3.

Next up came the Varsity contest. Our top unit hasn't lost a conference game this season, and this one would not be the first. The Badgers had their highest scoring effort of the year en route to an 82-38 victory. Kaden Jorgensen nailed four 3-pointers and led the scoring effort with 20. Caiden Sekuterski hit a couple threes as well, finishing with 14. Gavin Gilham scored 16, and his 10 assists secured him another double double. Brent Ethridge also had a double double. He scored 10 and had 13 rebounds. Tyler Lane was a single point from adding another to his list, he finished with 9 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks.

Friday the Badgers were back home and welcomed the Warriors from Heart Butte. The JV game was dominated by the home team. The Badgers won each quarter with the final tally being 57-28. Tanner Jacobs had his best game of the season; he led the scoring with 11, including 2 three pointers, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Lane Ethridge scored 10 and Ian McKamey added 6. Drake Lange sank 3 of 4 foul shots and contributed 4 rebounds. Deyton Raether also added a couple buckets and had another strong night on the glass, finishing with 8 rebounds.

The Varsity game closed the night out and was an exciting game from start to finish. The 1st half was back and forth with the opening quarter ending with our Badgers enjoying a tight 11-10 advantage. Our boys expanded the lead slightly and took a 24-19 lead into the locker room. A close 3rd quarter was narrowly won by the Warriors but in the 4th the Badgers took over, winning the final frame 22-13 and finishing the contest with a 58-45 victory. Tyler Lane was exceptional; he drilled 4 three pointers, scoring 22 points to go with 11 rebounds and 5 blocks. Gavin Gilham narrowly missed out on a triple double; he scored 15 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out 8 assists. Brent Ethridge added 12 points and 13 rebounds.

After the victory our boys were lucky enough to be fed by Deb and the crew down at the Driftwood. Big thanks to everyone who worked to feed all the boys' and girls' team on Friday night! The support is amazing, and it was fun to see everyone together for a meal before we hit the road Saturday morning.

Saturday, we finished our week in Dutton. The JV game ended up being only a half game, but the Badgers made the most of it and won 32-8. Trent Lane led the scoring with 10 and Tanner Jacobs added 7 points and 5 rebounds. Conner Mann scored 6 and Drake Lange scored 4 in the contest.

The week saw the JV end with a record of 15-1.

The Varsity capped the week with a rematch against the Dutton-Brady Diamondbacks. The Badgers got the best of the D-backs in their first matchup, but Dutton-Brady has since moved into 2nd place in the conference. The D-backs started out with a ton of energy, coupled with some hot shooting, and the Badgers ended the 1st quarter down 14-19. The D-backs also narrowly won the 2nd frame, and the Badgers went into the halftime locker room down 27-34. Our boys came out of halftime with energy of their own and played lockdown defense in the 3rd period. The result was an 18-3 quarter, in just 8 minutes the Badgers turned a 7-point deficit into an 8-point advantage. The Badgers won the final quarter as well and finished the game with a 61-47 victory. Gavin Gilham had flirted with a triple double a few times this season. This game he got it finishing with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Tyler Lane continued his hot shooting, he nailed 3 triples to finish with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Kaden Jorgensen secured his first double double, he scored 13 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. Caiden Sekuterski has been heating up, he nailed two three pointers and went 4 for 4 from the line to add 12 to the total.

The win clinches the 1 seed for the Badgers in the upcoming 10C District tournament. The Badgers finished the week with a 12-3(10-0 conference) record.

This upcoming week is our last of the regular season. The JV will head to Belt on Tuesday, February 6th for a rematch against the Huskies. Friday, February 9th is Senior night, and the Badgers will welcome Valier. Then we will finish the regular season out Saturday in Great Falls vs Power.