Ely boys look to climb

They have a little more height, plenty of experience, and some proven scorers.

That could add up to be a winning combination for the Ely Timberwolves. While graduation took mega-scorer Caid Chittum from the high school boys basketball program, the Wolves return one of the region’s best shooters in senior Jack Davies, an all-around threat in senior Drew Johnson and third-year starter Wyatt Tedrick.

Add several others who figure to provide a decent amount of depth, and the Wolves have good reason for optimism heading into the 2025-26 season, which started last night at International Falls.

“They’re practicing pretty well right now and I think the biggest key is staying healthy,” said Tom McDonald, who has led the Ely program since 1990. “Jack has been battling a knee injury since this summer, and we go as he goes. If he’s healthy we’re going to be okay.”

Davies, who has already reached the 1,000-point milestone for his career, has been a varsity regular for the last four seasons and averaged about 20 points per game last season.

He’s a threat to shoot from nearly anywhere on the court and has shown that he can carry the Wolves when he gets hot.

Johnson is also back in the lineup after averaging 13 points and nine rebounds per contest as a junior.

“Drew did everything for us last year,” said McDonald. “He led us in rebounding and was one of our top assist guys, but he’s going to have to score a little bit more with Caid gone.” The third starter back is Tedrick, a scrappy junior guard that also is a threat to score.

“We’ll need Wyatt to be a little more consistent and he’ll have to be our third scoring threat,” said McDonald.

McDonald’s Ely teams have been traditionally undersized, but that will change at least a bit this winter with 6-3 junior Max Brandriet moving into lineup.

“With Brandriet, we usually don’t get guys like that at 6-3, so hopefully he can rebound for us and get some garbage points underneath,” said McDonald. Rounding out the starting five is senior Tyler Fritz, who is also a potent shooter and could provide some offensive punch.

Off the bench, McDonald has several options including 6-1 junior Leo McKrahl, sophomore guard Grant Chittum, sophomore forward Arturo Cameron and junior guard Cyle Merhar.

A year ago, Caid Chittum set a single-season school record with 713 points and helped the team to a berth in the Section 7A quarterfinals.

The Wolves figure to have a more difficult schedule this season with the addition of section powers Cherry and Cromwell, as well as a Jan. 3 neutral-site date with East Central.

“We’d like to be in the top-eight in the section and get a home game to open the playoffs,” said McDonald. “There are some good teams ahead of us but also some teams like Chisholm who lost more than we did. Hopefully we’ll be in the middle of the pack somewhere and hopefully get a good enough record so we get an opportunity for a home playoff game. We hope to be competitive with everybody even though we have Cherry and Cromwell and Deer River on the schedule.”