Injury ruins Fischer's homecoming, NSU still wins

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Feb. 7, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

It was Dan Fischer's homecoming, but Jared Miller stole the show for the Northern State Wolves Saturday at BSU Gymnasium.

Miller scored 38 points, sinking eight three-pointers, to pace the Wolves to a 105-89 victory over the Beavers men's basketball team.

Fischer, a 1995 graduate of Bagley High School, drew a large crowd for the closest game to his hometown he will play this season.

But the homecoming was spoiled when he tore an arch in the first half and wasn't able to play in the second.

From the first tick of the clock, Miller and company blistered the Beavers with deadly accurate shooting from the field and beyond the three-point arc.

In the first half alone, the Wolves made nine treys and shot 52 percent from the field.

Riding that accuracy, Northern took a 13-point halftime lead, and was never seriously challenged except for a brief period late in the second half when the Beavers cut the deficit to eight points.

"Their perimeter shooting makes it tough, and they have a strong inside game as well," BSU coach Dave Gunther said. "They shot the lights out."

Fischer, who takes turns with Miller picking teams apart from beyond the three-point line, said his team never focuses on the long ball, but takes it when teams give it to them.

He finished 2-of-5 from long range and 4-for-8 from the field in the first half before sitting.

"Sometimes (Miller's) hot, and sometimes I'm hot, and sometimes we're both hitting," he said, "but we never try to only shoot the three. We want to get the ball inside, too."

Well, it was mission accomplished on both accounts as the Wolves had balanced scoring inside as well.

Center Brad Hansen came off the bench to score 19, and starting center Ben Dahl added 10.

"We try to get an inside-outside attack, and I thought it was a nice balance (tonight)," Northern coach Bob Olson said. "I thought our kids inside did a decent job, and we just happened to shoot the ball so ungodly well."

Olson added that he just wished Fischer would have been able to play in front of his hometown following -- a crowd that rivaled the Beavers' fans.

"It kind of takes a lot away from the game (that he got hurt)," Olson said.

Fischer added that it wasn't the homecoming he would have liked.

It was one the Beavers would like to forget as well.