What does one think about after hitting the biggest shot of his short varsity career?
"Play defense. Don't screw up."
That's what ran through the mind of Brainerd's Jack Geraets after he tied Thursday's Central Lakes Conference game with Alexandria with 1:20 remaining in overtime.
After two Cardinal free throws, it was Geraets' good buddy Chris Pederson's turn.
"I just saw Michael Russell driving baseline and my guy helped off," said Pederson. "I relocated and he found me and just knocked it down. It was a great pass by Michael."
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Pederson and Geraets both added two free throws leading to a 60-55 overtime victory for the Warriors at Brainerd High School.
Russell finished with four assists.
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Warriors 60, Alexandria 55
- Key: Jack Geraets and Chris Pederson hit overtime threes
- Conf: Brd 8-6, Alex 9-5
- Overall: Brd 10-13, Alex 13-8
- Next: Brainerd at Willmar 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
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Ben Corson gave the Cardinals an early 3-point lead in overtime. After two failed offensive attempts, Brainerd head coach Scott Stanfield called timeout.
"It was kind of drawn up for me, but the first look was supposed to be for Chris coming down the lane, but that wasn't open," said Geraets. "Coach just told me if I had an open look just take it. I kind of had it. I got it up there and somehow it went in."
Said Pederson when he saw Geraets take the shot: "I was pretty confident he would make it. We've been shooting pretty well in practice so I knew eventually one was going to have to fall."
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Prior to Geraets' 3-pointer, Brainerd was 0-for-8 from the arc.
"We didn't take a lot of 3s, but Alexandria plays good man defense and their zone is good enough to contest 3s," said Stanfield. "The shot for Jack was meant to go inside. Through the game we watched the top if they were getting out on that double and they were always a little late so we just told Jack, whoever came off that to get ready to shoot it because they might be late getting to you. Low and behold, Jack hit it to tie it up."
Pederson finished with 14 points, four rebounds and two assists. Geraets added 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Kobe Ahonen led the Warriors with 18 points and nine boards. He kept the Warriors in the second half with his eight points. Brainerd shot just 4-of-16 in the second half, and saw its 30-23 halftime lead evaporate quickly. Alexandria started the second half with a 10-2 run. The Cardinals claimed their first lead at the 15:34 mark.
Then it was a back-and-forth affair with six lead change and five ties. With 24.1 seconds left and the score tied 50-50, Brainerd called another timeout for the game-winning play.
"We got the shot we wanted," said Stanfield. "We ran a little cross pick to Chris or Kobe, whoever was open in the paint. Chris got it down there and I don't know if he didn't catch it quite clean enough or wasn't balanced enough to finish, but I thought it was as good a look as you were going to get."
The shot hit the rim and bounced out of bounds. Alexandria's desperation attempt failed sending the game into overtime.
In the first meeting between these two conference foes, the Warriors held a 27-18 halftime edge only to watch Alexandria come back Jan. 6 and beat Brainerd 54-51.
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Again Brainerd jumped out to a 30-23 halftime edge as it shot 50 percent from the field and 6-of-6 from the line. Brainerd only turned the ball over four times and forced seven Cardinal turnovers turning those into 10 points.
"We really tried to shut them down on defense once they went on their run to take the lead," said Pederson. "We just came back and fought hard. This was a huge win. This gives us another section win for the seeding and one game closer to the playoffs."
Alexandria 23 27 5 - 55
Brainerd 30 29 10 - 60
ALEXANDRIA
Grant Toivonen 1, Kris Setterstrom 14, Joe Gorghuber 5, Ben Corson 8, Brayden Amundson 3, Jaran Roste 16, Tyler Owen 4, Alec Wensman 4. FG 16-46 (34.8 percent), FT 14-19 (73.7 percent). 3-point 9-28 (32.1 percent).
BRAINERD
Michael Russell 2, Logan Madsen 4, Jack Geraets 11, Steven Severson 4, Jacob Russell 4, Hunter Casper 3, Chris Pederson 14, Kobe Ahonen 18 FG 18-45 (40 percent), FT 22-27 (81.5 percent). 3-point 2-10 (20 percent).
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JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at 855-5856 or jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com . Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeremymillsop .
