Eagles defeat Deer River, take command of Northern Lakes Conference race

   The last time the Northland Eagles boys’ basketball team won the conference was 1980. 43 years later an 82-79 victory over Deer River put them in position to end the drought. A win over Hill City will clinch a tie and a win over Bigfork will give them the outright title. Going into the game, the Eagles had won two of the last three meetings with the Warriors and they knew at the beginning of the year that this game would be critical in the conference title race.  “One of our goals is to win the conference and you can’t do it without beating these guys” said Eagles’ Coach Chris Carlson.  

   Northland controlled the action for most of the game but could never put the Warriors away, building leads of 10 and 17 points only to see Deer River come back on timely three point shooting. Northland has some three-point shooters of their own including Aiden Carlson and Alec Wake who each made five from beyond the arc as the team finished with 15 made three pointers.  Deer River managed to take a one-point lead late in the game, but Senior Jace Jackson made a basket, two key free throws and drew a charge to help close out the game.  

   The Eagles were led by Alec Wake and Aiden Carlson with 25 points and Nolan Carlson had 21 to go along with 8 rebounds. Liam Wake dished out 7 assists.