Amid a pair of tough defeats for the Ely Timberwolves came a milestone for one of their seniors.
Drew Johnson scored his 1,000th career point Monday night, but it came in the high school boys basketball team’s 72-54 loss to section contender Deer River.
Three nights earlier, the Wolves led for the entire game, only to see Cromwell hit a late three-point basket and stun the hometown team and a big crowd in a 58-56 thriller.
The Wolves, now 14-6 this winter, are currently rated seventh in Section 7A.
Their bid to climb higher in the rankings were thwarted, despite a pair of competitive outings.
Second-rated Deer River (14-3) had their hands full with the Wolves.
The game was tied at halftime and the hosts led 48-45 with about eight minutes to go, before a big run put Ely away.
“We were tied at half and played really well until about the eight-minute mark when they went on a run that we couldn’t recover from,” said Ely Head Coach Tom McDonald. “They shot the ball really well then and we shot poorly.”
Senior Jack Davies, the program’s all-time leading scorer, led the Wolves with 15 points but Johnson went over the 1,000-mark during the contest and wound up with 12.
The milestone was just the latest achievement in a big season for the Ely senior, who currently leads the team with 22.1 points per contest, along with about six rebounds per night and a team-best 4.6 assists each game.”
“It was nice to see Drew get his 1000th point early in the second half,” said McDonald. “Drew has become a very good player on both ends of the floor and is such a hard worker and it was nice to see him get rewarded for that hard work. He is having a great year for us.”
Sophomore Grant Chittum scored nine points for the Wolves and Leo McKrahl finished with eight rebounds.
• A boys-and-girls basketball doubleheader as well as dance team performances and elementary basketball brought the biggest audience of the season to the Memorial Gymnasium on Jan. 30, and they were treated to an exciting affair.
Ely led the physical Cromwell team by eight points at the half, but the Cardinals took their first lead of the game with under a minute to play.
Davies responded with a basket with 20 seconds left that put Ely up 56-55, but the Cardinals buried a three-pointer with five seconds left to regain the lead.
Ely had one last chance, but a three-pointer fell short and the Cardinals escaped.
“We led by eight at halftime and they shot the ball well against us in the second half,” said McDonald. “It was a disappointing loss after having control of the game throughout.”
Davies led the Wolves with 23 points while Johnson and junior Wyatt Tedrick both added 12 points. Johnson also secured nine rebounds.
• After a Friday night home game against Lake of the Woods, the Wolves are idle until a Feb. 12 clash at Chisholm.
