It was senior night, on Feb. 28, for the Battle Lake Battlers boys basketball team … and an eventful night it was. Not only did they defeat Lake Park-Audubon, 76-49, but a senior surprise was delivered.
"Tonight's game was an emotional one for us as it was senior night and we surprised everyone in the crowd, including his parents, as Bricker Bladow got the start tonight after suffering an ACL injury during the football season,” stated BL coach Brady Cameron. “Bricker, us three coaches, and his physical therapist had the idea of letting him start tonight and we can't thank the coaching staff and players at LPA enough for the kind gesture of letting us win the tip and giving Bricker the chance to get the ball in his hands this season before taking a shot clock violation.”
Jack Mekalson led the way with a double double, 37 points and 10 rebounds. He crossed the career 1,000 points mark on a three pointer in the second half.
Owen Buehler also registered a double double, with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“Once the game started we didn't have a great first half offensively, our offense was stagnant and we weren't working as a team. We were settling for too many threes and not getting our offense going by getting to the rim,” said Cameron. “The second half was a completely different story and we started to get to the rim, get out in transition and get in a good flow. I thought our defense was great all night, we rebounded well, and we held LPA to 27% from the floor (16/59). Again thanks to the LPA staff and players as we were able to get Bricker in with a minute left and got him a three point attempt in the corner and after a few bounces on the rim it went in to cap an amazing night for Bricker, our seniors, our team and our fans."
Battle Lake ended the regular season with a 22-4 record.
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