Red Lake struggles, 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.

Dec. 31, 1998

By Devlyn Brooks

HIBBING -- What happens when you isolate Red Lake's top two scoring threats in Delwyn Holthusen and Gerald Kingbird -- arguably two of the best boys' basketball players in the state?

You hold the Warriors to only 61 points -- about 20 below their average -- and you still lose by 10 points.

Red Lake (8-1) captured the championship of the Hibbing Boys' Holiday Tournament here Wednesday night in dramatic fashion, outscoring the Hibbing Bluejackets61-51 in a scrappy, defensive game.

The Warriors, unaccustomed to a slow, grinding pace, struggled in the first half of the title match, going to the lockers tied 27-27, but they adjusted to Hibbing's junk defenses in the second half by shifting guard Harold Graves to the top of the key where he drained three huge treys to push Red Lake to a 10-point win.

Red Lake also established a strong defensive presence in the second half, scrapping for every loose ball, blocking several shots and generally frustrating the Bluejackets' offense -- which only generated 24 second half points.

The Bluejackets (4-5), a Class 3A team, wanted to meet Red Lake, a Class A team, in the final because they felt the Warriors were the best talent in the tournament's eight-team field, according to coach Tony Harkonen.

Maybe they should have thought things through more carefully.

Other than the first quarter slump when the slowed-down pace frustrated the Warriors' run-and-gun offense, Red Lake was not challenged. But Harkonen was still happy with his team's output, even lauding praise on the Warriors after the game.

"If you would have told us we would hold this team to 61 points, we would take it any day of the week," Harkonen said. "We felt they were the best team in the tournament, and we were really happy to play them."

Graves, a rather unknown on a team with many potential scorers, led the Warriors to victory with his clutch three-pointers in the second half. He also finished with 16 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field to lead the team in scoring.

Holthusen, Red Lake's All-State center, scored 14 even though there were two Bluejackets dedicated to guarding him in the second half. He also finished with a couple of game-turning blocks and two monstrous dunks -- including one in the final ticks of the game to cap the championship with an exclamation point.

Kingbird, the team's other known threat, had nine points.

So did the Bluejackets' strategy work?

"We wanted to keep Holthusen and Kingbird out of the game and let the rest of the team beat us," Harkonen said of his team's pregame thinking. "They are two of the best players in the state, and we kind of played a junk defense to try to stop them. But they made a nice adjustment and their other players did beat us."

Holthusen, who was mobbed by college coaches and other scouts after the game, said he was frustrated some by the double teaming, but not as much as he might have been in past years.

"Yeah, it was frustrating a little bit," Holthusen said. "Gerald and I are used to the run-and-gun, but our younger guys are not. So we slowed it down again, and the other guys picked it up in the second half. Every player on this team can score. They can't key on everybody, so this year we can play either way."

Red Lake coach Bill Rutledge agreed, saying it was exciting to watch the Warriors play a slowed down game with confidence.

"They gave us some little fits with the triangle and two (defenses). It may work for a quarter or two, but we have too many weapons for them to take us out of the whole game," Rutledge said.

Hibbing used an early six-point run to lead 16-13 after the first quarter, much to the thanks of their early tenacious defense, but Red Lake rallied in the second quarter, scoring 14 and holding the Bluejackets to 11. That produced the 27-27 halftime score.

The momentum really swung in the Warriors' favor when with about 3:30 left in the second, Kingbird stole the ball from Hibbing guard Travis McLeod, who was bringing it up the floor and dished it to Holthusen for the first of his two dunks.

On the very next Hibbing possession, Byron Graves blocked a Bluejacket shot, which sent Kingbird and Holthusen on another fast break and resulted in another uncontested layup.

The four-point run sent the Warriors into halftime with huge confidence which translated into the third quarter thrashing.

The Warriors' fourth quarter was classic Red Lake basketball as Hibbing got desperate and the game turned back into a run-and-gun style, which the Warriors' do so enjoy. They scored 21, nine of which came on Harold Graves' game-breaking three-pointers.

Red Lake 13 14 13 21 -- 61

Hibbing 16 11 6 16 -- 51

RED LAKE (61)

Gerald Kingbird 3-9 3-4 9, Joe Nayquanabe 1-5 0-0 2, Byron Graves 2-3 2-3 6, Harold Graves 6-13 1-1 16, Clyde Perkins 5-13 2-2 14, Delwyn Holthusen 7-14 0-2 14. Team totals -- 24-57 8-12 61

HIBBING (51)

Travis McLeod 1-7 2-2 4, Conor McCue 6-9 0-0 12, Dan Christy 0-1 2-2 2, Josh Voyd 4-7 1-3 10, Roscoe Taylor 3-7 0-0 6, Tim Walters 1-4 0-0 2, Aaron Raukar 6-10 0-0 15, Jon Ellich 0-1 0-0 0. Team totals -- 21-46 5-7 51

3-point totals -- Red Lake 5-17 (Kingbird 0-4, H. Graves 3-6, Perkins 2-7), Hibbing 4-10 (McLeod 0-2, McCue 0-1, Boyd 1-1, Raukar 3-6).