Wildcats can’t keep up with Thunder

The Blair-Taylor boys basketball team struggled against one of the top teams in the conference on Monday of last week.

Osseo-Fairchild took control of the game with a run in the first half and went on to a 73-52 home win over B-T.

The loss put B-T at 6-4 in Dairyland Conference play and 6-7 overall on the season. The team hosts Melrose-Mindoro on Tuesday and will head to Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran on Friday. Next Monday, the Wildcats play at Cochrane-Fountain City before heading to Whitehall on Thursday. 

O-F 73 Blair-Taylor 52

The teams were close early, but the Thunder went on a run to take control before halftime.

The Wildcats were within four after a runner by Collin Johnson, but O-F scored eight of the next nine points to take a 31-20 lead. The lead hovered around 10 until the final minute of the half when the Thunder scored a couple of baskets to take a 39-25 lead into halftime.

“We hit that stretch again where we just could not hit a shot or get a big stop,” B-T Coach Randy Storlie said. “We then have to play catch-up and gamble the rest of the game to get back into the game and (O-F) took advantage of that. They are a very solid team, and they played well. Our guys played so hard but just could not score when we had to.”

The Thunder maintained a double-digit lead early in the second half before pulling away. 

The Wildcats were led in scoring by CJ Dummer with 19 points, followed by Collin Johnson with 16.