The Northfield High School boys basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak by chalking up a pair of Big 9 Conference victories over the last week.
On Tuesday, Feb. 13, Northfield earned an 85-59 win at home over Red Wing and then completed the week with an 87-70 win at Albert Lea Friday, Feb. 16.
On the hardwood in Albert Lea, the Raiders took an early lead in the contest as they opened the game with 10 unanswered points before the Tigers broke the shutout with 14:20 left in the first half.
Albert Lea managed to narrow the NHS lead and eventually take a 13-12 lead at 10:16 of the first half before a pair of baskets by Kyan Rauk in the paint returned the lead to Northfield at 16-13.
The Raiders then managed to break the game open with baskets from Kayden Oakland, Malcom Poole and a pair of free throws by Isaiah Mahal that pushed Northfield’s lead to 23-17 with 5:19 left in the half.
Once again, the pesky Tigers battled back and closed Northfield’s lead to 26-23 with 3:09 left in the half but another surge by the Raiders allowed them to gain a 10-point lead after a basket and free throw by Rauk. Oakland added another basket and free throw on the the play to push Northfield’s edge to 40-27 at the intermission.
The foursome of Rauk, Poole, Oakland and Mahal helped Northfield maintain its lead early in the second half as a strong scoring run by Oakland generated six points that gave Northfield a 58-45 lead.
Albert Lea was ready to call it a night yet and managed to cut the lead to 58-52 after Northfield was called with a technical foul. Mahal and Poole responded by hitting two consecutive three point field goals to give NHS a 64-52 lead. The Raider offense continued eight points from Oakland and another two treys by Poole provided Northfield with a 78-55 upper hand with 5:10 left in regulation.
From that point, Northfield managed to cruise to the victory as Oakland led all scorers with 31 points followed by Poole with 19, Mahal with 15 and Rauk with 12.
In the home game against Red Wing on Feb. 13, the Raiders fell behind early in the contest and were down 12-5 with 13:07 left in the first half. Poole helped sparked the recovery as he went on a 10 point scoring spree that tied the game at 20-20 with 7:15 left in the first.
After exchanging leads, Mahal hit a three point field goal with 2:59 left in the first half to give Northfield a 26-24 lead — a lead that the Raiders were able to maintain until the final buzzer.
The Raiders were paced against the Wingers by Mahal with 21 points and Poole with 19 points. Rauk added 10 points to the cause while Isaac Kram had eight points along with five points each from Simon Lippert and Tyler Hupton.
Northfield (11-12, 10-8 Big 9) has three games left in its regular season schedule. The Raiders hosted Austin on Tuesday, Feb. 20 and will also host Owatonna on Friday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m. To wrap up the regular season, Northfield will then finish with another home game against Faribault on Friday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m.
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