It was nearly a year ago, to the day, that the two teams were slated to meet for the Section Championship. But the much anticipated game was never played due to the Pandemic, and Perham was added to the Otter's regular season schedule this year.

The opening tip saw Perham open scoring on a trey from Elijah Morris before the Otters answered with a 13-0 run, led by Dominic Aguilar. Fergus Falls was hot from the field starting the game making five of their first six attempts, and 9-of-12 in taking their largest lead of the game at 22-6. The score was 29-21 at the half. Perham struggled with their shooting in the opening half against the active Otter zone defense, making 7-of-25 attempts, while the Otters made 11-of-18 shots for 61%. Aguilar had 15 for the Otters. Finn Diggins scored 9 and Morris added a pair of treys for the Yellowjackets.  

Perham continued to chip away at the lead and went ahead 35-33 on a conventional 3-point play from Diggins. After the Otters tied the game Morris hit a 3-pointer to give the Yellowjackets their largest lead, 38-35, with just over 7:00 to go. The Otters tied the contest again, getting a huge trey from Josh Sternberg and regained the lead moments later when Aguilar scored in the lane. Soren Anderson's trey gave the Yellowjackets their final lead before Elliott Pribbenow scored the final five points of the game for the Otters hitting 3-of-4 foul shots.

Aguilar led the Otters in scoring with 19 points. Pribbenow had a career-high 10. Austin Rinke added 6 and Sternberg 5. Fergus Falls finished 18-of-40 from the field 45% and 5-of-7 at the line.  Diggins, who had 33 points the previous evening in a loss to Moorhead, had 16, with Morris adding 14 and Anderson 7 for the Yellowjackets who connected on 33% of their shots (16-49) and who fall to 12-4.

The Otters continued to be without the services of center Chance Fazio, still out with an ankle injury, but hopeful to be available for the Section playoffs. They improved their record to 9-7 and will close out the regular season with Central Lakes Conference games on Monday at Willmar, and then host Rocori Friday.

Fergus Falls    29 19--48
Perham           21 22--43

Fergus Falls--Aho, 1 0-0 3; Aguilar, 8 0-1 19; Conklin, 1 0-0 3; Newman, 1 0-0 2; Pribbenow, 2 5-6 10; Rinke, 3 0-0 6; Sternberg, 2 0-0 5.  Totals:  18 (7) 5-7 48

Perham--Anderson, 3 0-0 7; Diggins, 5 6-7 16; Morris, 5 0-0 14; G. Thompson, 1 0-0 2; M. Thompson, 2 0-0 4.  Totals:  16(5) 6-7 43