skip navigation

Otter Boys Clinch Central Lakes Conference Title with Win Over Willmar

By Dean Nielsen, 02/20/20, 11:45PM CST

Share

A strong defensive effort and quick start carried the Fergus Falls boys’ basketball team to a 62-42 home victory over the Willmar Cardinals on Thursday night. With the win, their 11th straight and 21st overall, the Otters capture the championship of the Central Lakes Conference.

Dominic Aguilar scored from behind the arc and Cody Norgren had a 3-point play among his pair of inside baskets, and the Otters enjoyed a quick 8-0 lead 2 1/2 minutes into the contest.  Half a minute later, Willmar got on the scoreboard with a pair of free-throws. The Cardinals had trouble solving the active zone defense by the Otters and did not score from the field until the 11:30 mark on a long 3-pointer from Samuel Fraser, who moments later, added another bomb from downtown and cut the lead to 12-8.  Abel Aho led a 14-0 run by the Otters scoring on back-to-back treys, and a third basket later, making it an 18-point lead with 5:40 left in the half. The Cardinals started to find the basket, as they outscored the Otters 11-5 to end the half down 31-22. Willmar struggled with their shooting in the opening half making only two of their first 19 shots and 8-of-29 overall, while the Otters made half of their 26 attempts.

Willmar began the second half scoring the first five points, cutting the lead to four at 31-27, before Norgren hit a pair of free throws and Ethan Olson a trey, to restore the 9-point lead. Willmar made no serious runs the remainder of the game as the Otters built a lead as high as 24 points and cruised to the win.

Cody Norgren led the Otters on the scoreboard with a game-high 19 points, followed by Ethan Olson (13), Abel Aho (12), and Dominic Aguilar (10). Chance Fazio was held to a season-low 6 points but had 11 rebounds. Aguilar also distributed 8 assists. Jack Jeffords led Willmar with 11 Fraser had 10, and Jacob Rosendahl 9. The Cardinals finished shooting 31% (17-53) for the game and 2-of-6 at the line. The Otters connected on 47% (25-of-53) of their shots from the floor and 3-of-4 free-throws.

The Otters will now enjoy a week off before they end the regular season next Friday at St. Cloud Apollo.