Gator Boys Fall to Quick Warriors

Gator boys fall to quick Warriors

By: Ryan Bergeron

The Gator boys opened their regular season at the Northland Community and Technical College Holiday Tournament in Thief River Falls on Thursday, December 8 against an opponent coming off a fourth place state tournament finish last season and garnering the number two ranking in the state at Class A heading into this season—the Red Lake Warriors. The Gators would fall to the fast-tempo Warriors, led by the 25 points 15 rebounds from Rob McLain, putting down numerous dunks in both the first and second half, by a 85-43 final score.

Going into this game, Gator Head Coach Kent Christian knew the Warriors’ pedigree, but said he was proud of the effort and focus his team showed. His team trailed 52-18 at halftime.

“I thought our guys worked really, really hard,” Gator Coach Kent Christian. “They didn’t give up. I think they came into the game with the right focus. Red Lake’s a really good team.”

Many of his players stepped on the varsity floor for the first time and against an opponent that brings quickness to both sides of the floor, one his team can’t simulate in practice, Coach Kent Christian said. Offensively, the Gators committed 33 turnovers in the game, some coming off a Warriors full-court press that forced some 10-second violations.

Going into this match up, the Gator coaching staff emphasized breaking the game down into mini- games.

“We said we have 12 games today—three-minute games—so each one of those three minutes, we said it’s a new game, new game, but unfortunately, they won a lot of those games,” Coach Christian said.

Besides coming out of this game unscathed injury-wise, Coach Christian saw some positives. One bright spot, he said, came from Yannik Kroeller Fernandez, coming off the bench to score a team-high nine points. Other top offensive Gator scorers, Connor Graff scored eight points and Austin Aune seven points, and defensively each picked up three steals.

Besides McClain, Jamie Cook’s 17 points and Kendall Whitefeather’s 13 points also paced the Warriors offense.

Another positive Coach Christian saw came courtesy of his team’s mindset heading into this game.

“I really liked the way we approached the game today,” Coach Christian said. “I didn’t think our guys were scared at all. They were ready to go. So, basically it’s the old coach adage (that) you flush this one down the toilet and get ready for tomorrow.”

The Gators would face the Goodridge/Grygla-Gatzke Chargers in tournament consolation play that following day.

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