Fergus Falls scored the first basket of the night, but Willmar responded by rattling off eleven straight points, holding the Otters scoreless for six minutes as they took a 20-12 halftime lead on the way to a 41-37 boys basketball victory on Thursday night in Willmar.
The Otter switched to a zone defense midway through the first half and got nine consecutive defensive stops against the Cardinals. They cut the Willmar lead to 31-30 in the second half and had a possession down 40-37 with 23 seconds left in the game, but turned the ball over.
Drey Dirksen led Willmar with 15 points and Ryan Slette added 12 points. Willmar held a 40-35 advantage on the boards and made 14 free throws to just 3 for the Otters.
Fergus Falls was led by Dominic Aguilar with 18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Nic Pearson scored 11 points and pulled down 7 boards.
Fergus Falls (10-10) will host Bemidji at 3:00pm Saturday.