The Ely Timberwolves had put up points in bunches in three early-season- wins.
But on Dec. 19 at Grand Marais, they had a hard time buying a basket.
The result was a 40-33 high school boys basketball loss to a physical and athletic Cook County team.
Ely shot less than 20 percent (11-for-60) from the floor, and only four-for-29 from three-point distance.
“I thought we actually played well against Cook County but could not shoot the ball,” said Ely Head Coach Tom McDonald. “We defended well, had a season low eight turnovers, rebounded well. We just couldn’t get a shot made to get us going. ”
The Wolves managed just 15 points in the first half, a season low, and the night didn’t get any better.
“We didn’t do much more in the second half,” said McDonald. “Cook County is very athletic and played us well defensively. ”
Senior Jack Davies paced what was a very limited Ely offense with 17 points. He was the only Timberwolf to reach double digits.
Junior Wyatt Tedrick pulled down nine rebounds for the Wolves and sophomore Arturo Cameron had eight more.
“We did have 18 steals against them but we had a hard time converting many of them into points,” said McDonald.
• A Dec. 23 matchup with North Woods was postponed and will be rescheduled, and the Wolves have two games this week as part of the annual Ely Holiday Classic (see related story).
The Wolves meet unbeaten Two Harbors Monday and have a rematch with Cook County on Tuesday. Both games are at 7 p.m.
“For the tournament games we are going to have to put everything together to be able to compete with Two Harbors as they are off to a good start and have a very athletic team,” said McDonald, “We will also need to be able to shoot the ball better to win any game coming up.”
• Also on the docket is a Jan. 3 game with East Central, at Duluth East, as part of Breakdown Sports’ annual event there.
The game with the Eagles (3-3) is slated for 3:45 p.m.
