Red Lake beats Bemidji 78-63

BEMIDJI -- Linaes Whiting scored 20 of his game-high 23 points in the second half as Bemidji High School lost to Red Lake Saturday, 78-63.

And, as the BHS student section pointed out to the Red Lake faithful as Whiting created a steal and coasted in for an easy layup, he is indeed a freshman.

"Who's going to step up," Lumberjacks' coach Dan Ninham said on who would fill the void left by James Hendricks who was gone for the weekend. "Linaes Whiting stepped up. I was impressed with Linaes.

"We're looking at James coming back and Linaes playing well, that's what we need."

Bemidji could have used Hendricks in its lineup this weekend, as both of the games they played in the BHS Boys Basketball Invitational were close, but Hendricks was on an official recruiting visit to North Dakota State University.

Instead, other players needed to step up and gain some experience and they did.

Sophomore Nate Snell added 14 points for the Lumberjacks, a career-best, while the team's only other senior AJ Anderson added 11 points.

"I'm just getting open and taking good shots," Whiting said. "My teammates are driving and getting me open and creating scoring opportunities for me."

Unfortunately for Bemidji (1-15), it couldn't pick up the elusive second win of the season against two tough class A teams, North Woods (11-4) and the Warriors of Red Lake (13-3). Red Lake won the invite by going 2-0 on the weekend.

The Warriors are the defending Class A Section 8 Champions and are looking to repeat again.

Red Lake blew out defending Class A Section 7 Champions Fond du Lac on Friday and were led by Jeremy Martin's 36 points.

The Warriors, like Bemidji, needed other players to step up on Saturday because Martin could only muster two points.

Russell Kingbird led the team with 21 points while Justice Needham had 18 points.

James Jourdain added 14 points while Rob McClain scored 12 including a dunk and many blocked shots on defense.

"As quality as they are of a Class A opponent, we have the big boys coming back," Ninham said. "We have Grand Rapids and Sauk Rapids-Rice now. We have Grand Rapids up first and its always a battle."

Having to battle in the second half is something Whiting and the Lumberjacks don't want to do.

The team has come out slow in the first half and needed early second half comebacks to get back in the game before the game slips away at the end.

"We need to play better in the first half with better energy," Whiting said. "Second half we play better than the first half and that's why we're close in these games but falling short."

Fond du Lac Ojibwe edged North Woods 69-68 in the early game, as the two teams went 1-1 on the weekend.

Red Lake 78, Bemidji 63

RLH: 43 35 -- 78

BHS: 29 34 -- 63

Red Lake: Kingbird 7 1 6-11 21, Needham 5 4 4-6 18, Jourdain 6 0 2-4 14, McClain 5 1 1-3 12, Spears 2 0 0-0 4, Cloud 1 1 1-3 4, Cook 1 1 0-0 3, Martin 0 0 2-4 2, Beaulieu 0 0 0-1 0.

Bemidji: Whiting 9 1 4-5 23, Snell 5 0 4-8 14, Anderson 5 0 1-4 11, Carlson 2 0 2-2 6, Rolfes 0 0 3-4 3, Cervenka 1 0 0-0 2, Huseby 1 0 0-0 2, Peterson 1 0 0-1 2.

Halftime: Red Lake 43, Bemidji 29

Photographs by Chris Jourdain