MOORHEAD — It had been exactly two weeks since the Moorhead boys basketball team last won a game. Until Friday night.
Two weeks may seem like a long time, but in reality, the Spuds only dropped two games in that span. Either way, the team wanted to make sure a third straight "L" wasn't on deck with Brainerd coming to town.
And it wasn't. With 3:11 to play, a bucket, foul and free throw from senior guard Colton Hagen put the Spuds on top for good and Moorhead ultimately held on to win 72-66 in a battle of two of the top three teams in the Section 8AAAA rankings.
"Brainerd has a heck of a basketball team," Spuds head coach Matt Ellingson said. "They were 19-3 for a reason. They have a very, very good group and they're going to make a deep playoff push."
Junior guard D.J. Smith led the Spuds with 24 points while senior forward Adam Jenkins finished with 23, including his 1,000th career point.
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The milestone was reached with 7:52 remaining in the first half on a free throw that gave Moorhead a 17-16 lead. Jenkins is the 13th player in Spuds history to achieve the feat.
"I'm super excited and super happy about it," said Jenkins, the Minnesota Mr. Basketball nominee and Minnesota State Moorhead commit. "But it doesn't really change our goal as a team or me as a player. I'm just looking to improve my game."
Although a free throw isn't the most exuberant way to reach career point No. 1,000, Jenkins said he'll take it however he can get it.
"It's alright to get it on a free throw," Jenkins said. "I would've preferred a dunk or something, but it is what it is. I came through with it."
After Hagen gave the Spuds the lead on his bucket and charity shot, it was Smith who put the team on his back down the stretch, hitting three consecutive buckets to send Moorhead on a 6-2 run and make it a 68-61 game with 1:22 left on the clock.
From that point on, it turned into a free throw game. Hagen and junior guard Dylan Zimmerman hit four free throws in the final 45 seconds to seal it for the Spuds.
It was a shootout all the way, with the lead never growing larger than seven points for either team. It was Jenkins' milestone and strong defense down the stretch that gave Moorhead the momentum it needed, Smith said.
"We had good defensive stops," Smith said. "And that helped us build momentum on the offensive end. We started hitting shots, Adam started hitting his hooks and he got to 1K. As soon as he hit that, we had more motivation to win the game."
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The game was deadlocked 32-32 at halftime after a layup from Brainerd senior guard Nick Evanson tied things up with 30 seconds remaining.
Evanson had 16 points at the half and finished the night with 23 total points, a Warriors threat that the Spuds appeared to have no answers for in the opening 20 minutes.
"Nick is a fantastic basketball player," Ellingson said. "Our only goal was to try to contain and slow down. You're never going to stop a player like that. He really got it going and credit to him. He's really crafty and sound. He can shoot it, he can drive it, he's just a really tough defensive matchup and he played well (tonight)."
Ellingson and his team were semi-successful at slowing Evanson down, limiting the standout to just seven second-half points.
The Warriors bent Moorhead in the second half, but the Spuds never broke. Down six early on, Moorhead pulled to within two points at 46-44 after Hagen sank a pair of free throws which were awarded on a technical foul to Brainerd.
On the ensuing possession, a slam dunk by Jenkins drew the game even yet again.
A corner triple from Brainerd junior guard Jake Merseth with 6:05 to play again put the Warriors up 57-52, but it was the Spuds again clawing back, tying the game at 57 with 5:23 left on a corner triple from Smith — his fourth trey of the night.
The teams exchanged free throws to tie the game at 59-59 before Hagen's bucket and foul put Moorhead on top for the final time.
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"I was really proud of our kids' physical and mental toughness in the second half," Ellingson said. "When Brainerd was making runs, we stayed sound. We were strong with the ball, we went to the rim to finish off two feet, and we just did those sound, simple plays."
Moorhead, sitting at No. 2 in the Section 8AAAA standings, improved to 16-6. Brainerd, the section's No. 3 team, fell to 19-4.
The game was perhaps a taste of what's to come in the section tournament.
"Class 4A, Section 8 basketball is always highly, highly competitive," Ellingson said. "There's just so many good teams in our section that you just never know who you're going to see. We have a ton of respect for the Brainerd Warriors program, and if we seem them again, we're absolutely going to have our hands full."
Hagen chipped in 14 points for the Spuds while Zimmerman added seven.
Senior guard John Pecarich added 18 points for Brainerd while junior guard Eli Hoelz finished with 16.
Moorhead hosts Elk River (10-11) Saturday at 2 p.m. Brainerd hosts St. Michael-Albertville (8-16) at 3 p.m. Saturday.
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