Eastview and Osseo started out as a slow grind. The Lightning didn’t drop in a bucket for five game minutes but while they were in a drought they still managed to hold Osseo to only four points. With a jam packed crowd squeezing into their seats the energy level was at a feverish pitch so naturally their came a point of a letdown in intensity.
When the teams settled in and lost a little bit of that fire the offense took over. Bucknell signed Ben Oberfeld found his way to the rim scoring on two hardcuts, a post-up, and a dumpoff. The big man was able to create shots within the offense to get his team going and then two Mark Dwyer jumpers helped bring Eastview within four at 25-21. Osseo built their lead on good halves from seniors Bridge Tusler and Malik Wilson who each opened the game with three field goals
In a game where buckets were hard to come by it was Tusler willing to do the work to build Osseo’s lead. He attacked baseline and bounced back inside with a spinning reverse. That was followed by the 5-foot-11 guard scoring a putback over the backside Eastview defenders for a 38-29 lead. To keep the game close Tusler’s tough guy counter was Oberfeld elbowing his way through the masses to sneak in a put back to keep his team within eight points. Moments later Oberfeld outfought Osseo for position and a lob bucket to make the score 38-33.
Ryan Lockard scored a tough bucket on the attack with just over a minute to go and at that point the Lightning were down five points. Eastview’s attack and aggressive defense thought it then forced a bad pass but Wheeler Baker made an incredible catch on the side line and then doubled his efforts getting to the bucket and scoring a contested finger roll. The lead was back to seven and Eastview had to foul the rest of the way. Their efforts weren’t successful and Osseo won 50-40.
Score by half: Osseo 25-25--50, Eastview 21-19--40
Eastview – Mark Dwyer 5, Joe Schlosser 3, Ryan Lockard 10, TJ Sinn 2, Dar Nwaudo 4, Ben Oberfeld 16
Osseo – Tyrin Vann 2, Wheeler Baker 11, Harrison Lucas 35, Matt Miedtke 2, Rakeem Felder 6, Bridge Tusler 16, Ian Theissen 2, Malik Wilson 9