cowboys battle past skilled pelican rapids team, 75-64

Anthony conzemius scores career-high 25 points

Photos by Carol Colby • Junior Perez (5) and Alex Ohm (14) sparked a Breckenridge scoring run before halftime.

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• By Robert Wanek Jr.

In a classic Heart O' Lakes Conference, Section 8AA showdown with rival Pelican Rapids, Breckenridge battled to a 75-64 victory behind a career-high 25 points from senior forward Anthony Conzemius.

Conzemius and Jonah Christensen scored eight quick points to begin the contest. It was back-and-forth from there, as both teams juggled the lead late into the first half. Conzemius constantly found soft spots in the Pelican defense and converted missed shots into easy put-back buckets at the rim.

Alex Ohm received his varsity jersey just before the game and his first playing time proved crucial. With under five minutes left in the half, Breckenridge leading 26-23, Ohm grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds and his hustle play sparked a run that helped Breckenridge mount a 37-26 halftime lead.

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Sebastian Anderson's on-ball defense has been a story line early on.

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Cooper Yaggie keyed that run, too, as he buried a pair of three-pointers that had the Cowboy bench on their feet. Yaggie was held to one basket for nearly 10 minutes, but lured Vikings' senior guard McHale Korf into three first-half fouls on his way to 11 points. Yaggie finished the game with 17 points.

Sebastian Anderson forced a 5-second violation on the first play after half, and Breckenridge kept rolling to a 41-26 lead. Sharpshooting guard Jayden Rutherford answered with a barrage of 3-PT makes as Pelican Rapids regained the lead at 50-49 midway through the second half.

Sophomore Dylan Bernotas checked in at the nine-minute mark and swiftly helped Breckenridge build a lead. He forced Rutherford into a missed shot, before hitting a three of his own and driving to the cup for an acrobatic layup shortly after. His first varsity action of 2021 was in clutch fashion.

Anthony Conzemius notched his first double-double of the season vs. Pelican Rapids.

Bring Your Own Juice □

Even with empty seats, Breckenridge is one of the toughest places to play. Big Section 8AA win for a multi-dimensional Cowboys team.

Career-high 25 points for Anthony "Big Red" Conzemius □ pic.twitter.com/8ST4vATOZg

— Breck Sports Talk (@BreckSportsTalk) January 20, 2021

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Alex Ohm (14) got his varsity jersey just before tonight's game. His first 2:00 on the court ignited a Breck scoring run before half. #CowboyCulture

• Grabs two offensive rebounds
• Assists Yaggie for 3-PT
• Sprints back to disrupt pass
• Dives for loose ball, leads to 3-PT pic.twitter.com/m82sPtdj8l

— Breck Sports Talk (@BreckSportsTalk) January 20, 2021

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Pelican Rapids, a team ranked as high as no. 3 in some preseason Section 8AA polls, kept fighting to the finish. Eventually, they lost Korf to his fifth foul on another strong dribble drive by Yaggie. Shortly after, a 3-PT play by Junior Perez and a strong finish by Christensen sealed the deal by putting Breckenridge up 10 late in the game. Christensen finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. Perez dished out three assists and the 5'7" firecracker tracked down a number of long rebounds which led to transition points.

Breckenridge continued to see strong defensive play from its guards. Anderson, Yaggie, and Perez all ended up in the steal column, with the latter two taking charges once again. Perez has shown great poise with the basketball in press-break situations on offense, as Anderson has been the one applying full-court pressure to opponents on defense.

Breckenridge travels to Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton on Friday, January 22nd for another 7:30 p.m. section tilt. It will be the Cowboys first road game of the season, after a strong 2-0 start at home.