McDonald lights it up
A few days off didn’t hurt Eric McDonald’s shooting touch.The high school boys basketball team was back on the court for the first time in more than a week when it met Two Harbors in the opening round of the 13th Annual Ely Holiday Tournament, and the Timberwolves’ senior guard sizzled from the outside.McDonald nailed nine three-point shots, just one shy of his career-high, and finished with a game-high 37 points as the hosts drilled the visiting Agates 84-52 in an opening-round contest.McDonald showed deadly range, connecting from several feet beyond the three-point arc on two occasions and hitting 50 percent (nine-for-18) from three-point range in the game.The Wolves lit it up early on, hitting 61 percent of their three-pointers (11-for-18) in the opening stanza, building an insurmountable 50-20 lead by halftime.“It’s always good to get a win and overall I thought we played pretty well,” said Ely Head Coach Tom McDonald. “Eric shot well, and that’s a pretty good percentage.”Ely climbed over the .500 mark to 3-2 with the victory, and the outcome was never in doubt.Eric McDonald broke an early 2-2 deadlock with back-to-back treys, one from the right wing and the next one from the left side.The Wolves’ full-court pressure gave Two Harbors (0-6) fits, forcing 16 first-half turnovers and 26 turnovers in the game.Ely steals and errant Agates passes led to many easy scores and the rout was on.Senior Nick Furnstahl added 15 points for the Wolves and sophomore Ben Povhe came off the bench to add 10 points.The Wolves’ ranks were depleted - at least temporarily - when sophomore guard Pat Lekatz went down with an injury late in the first half. Lekatz caught an errant elbow from a Two Harbors player and suffered a concussion. Lekatz, who scored nine points before his departure, was expected to miss the remainder of the tournament. The big lead allowed the Wolves to go to their bench and 11 different players scored. Jacob Wognum had four points for Ely while Jeremy Boedeker, Bryan Cole and Jake Ojala had two points apiece.Matt Bruley (13 points) and David Gomes (12) reached double figures for the winless Agates.In other tournament action Wednesday, Cromwell ran its record to 5-1 with an easy 86-50 victory over Silver Bay.The Wolves were set to take on Cromwell Thursday night and Silver Bay Friday afternoon, following the Echo deadline.“In terms of wins and losses, I don’t worry about (the rest of the tournament),” said Tom McDonald. “I just think we need to get better as the year goes on and not take a step back.”After the tournament, the Wolves return to the court next Friday, with a home game against Littlefork-Big Falls.
