Brainerd's Michael Russell scored 18 points and dished out five assists for the Warriors during Saturday's 79-50 loss to Class 4A's fourth-ranked Wayzata Trojans
Joey Sauer added 11 points for the Warriors.
"We played hard and had a nice first half," Warriors coach Scott Stanfield said. "We wore down in the second half and they took advantage with pressure and shooting the three well. Turnovers continue to hurt us, and we need to work on making the simple easy play. We tend to force things a bit when we get sped up and tired.
"All in all, we played with great effort, and playing Wayzata will make us better the second half of the season which starts Tuesday (at Sauk Rapids)."
Wayzata 38 41-79
ADVERTISEMENT
Brainerd 28 22-50
WAYZATA
Jacob Beeninga 8, Ben Grosse 7, Connor Hale 2, Luke Paulson 6, Riley McGrane 2, Alex Jensen 4, Gavin Baumgartner 18, Drew Galinson 14, Bryce Hempel 2, Ryan Lindberg 16. FG 32-58 (55 percent), FT 4-7 (57 percent). 3-point 11-26 (42 percent).
BRAINERD
Ben Staehling 3, Mason Malone 3, Michael Russell 18, Chris Karels 7, Joey Sauer 11, Brandon Burggraff 2, Max Zimmerman 2, Michael Bieganek 2, Taylor Shelito 2. FG 17-48 (35 percent), FT 9-11 (82 percent). 3-point 7-24 (29 percent). Overall: 5-8. Next: at Sauk Rapids-Rice 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
