.jpg)
Ely’s high school boys basketball team went into the playoffs hoping to be giant killers of sorts.
Heavily-favored Mt. Iron-Buhl served as the Wolves’ opponent Thursday night in a Section 7A high school boys basketball contest completed after deadline.
The Rangers entered the home matchup with a 21-5 record and the number-two seed in the north half of the section, behind only section favorite Cherry.
Ely, meanwhile, finished the regular season 11-15 and two of those defeats came at the hands of the talented Rangers. MIB downed the Wolves 81-41 two weeks ago while a January meeting was more competitive, but still a 20-point win (78-58) for the Rangers.
Longtime Ely Head Coach Tom McDonald acknowledged the long odds facing his team in the postseason.
“We will have to limit our turnovers against MIB as last time we played them we had 20 first-half turnovers which led to too many easy baskets for them,” said McDonald, who has led the Ely program since the 1990-91 season. “We will also have to hope that MIB will not have a hot shooting night and we will have to rebound on the defensive end.”
The Wolves struggled down the home stretch of the regular season, dropping nine of their last 11 contests.
That included a 61-54 home loss to Fond du Lac on March 2 at the high school gymnasium.
The visiting Ogichidaa used their athleticism to build a double-digit lead, then withstood a late storm from the Wolves.
Ely junior Caid Chittum recorded a double-double with 24 points, while sophomore Jack Davies added 19 points for the evening.
Another Ely sophomore, Drew Johnson, dished out 12 assists.
“FDL shot the ball really well in the first half and we just couldn’t get the run we needed in the second half to close the gap,” said McDonald. “I thought we played pretty well and only had 12 turnovers but we shot only 39 percent from the field.”
A win on Thursday would put the Wolves into Saturday’s quarterfinal round and a 12:30 p.m. game against either Deer River or Littlefork-Big Falls at the Hibbing Memorial Arena. The semifinals and finals are also at Hibbing, on March 13 and 15, respectively.
