Lakers Erase Double-Digit Deficit, Beat East Grand Forks in OT

Detroit Lakes, MN (KDLM)- The Lakers won a thriller at the Ralph Anderson Gymnasium on Tuesday night, erasing a double-digit deficit to beat East Grand Forks in overtime 74-71.

The Lakers jumped out to a 20-9 lead midway through the first half but saw that lead disappear after the Green Wave outscored the Lakers 23-11 to close out the first half, including a buzzer-beater three by Sam Votava to end the half. East Grand Forks went to the locker room with a 32-31 lead at the half.

The deficit ballooned to double digits at 49-36 with 11:38 left to play, but Christian Solberg, Caeden Yliniemi, and Zack Oistad fueled a Laker comeback, scoring a combined 29 points in the second half. With the lead trimmed to 66-64, Solberg hit the game-tying layup with 1.2 seconds left. A three-quarters-length desperation shot by Ryan Taylor rattled in and out that would have won the game for the Green Wave, but instead, the game went to overtime.

The Lakers jumped out to a 70-66 lead but took the lead 71-70. Clutch free throws by Ylimiemi and Elias Gloege with under a minute left gave the Lakers a 72-71 lead. East Grand Forks had a chance to take the lead, but a moving screen call on Spencer Egeland gave the ball back to Detroit Lakes with nine seconds left. Gloege hit two more free throws to make it a three-point game. The Green Wave missed the three to send the game to a second overtime and Detroit Lakes came out on top. Solberg finished with 12 points (all in the second half), and Oistad finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds. EGF’s Sam Votava led all scorers with 17 points. Gloege scored 11 off the bench and hit five of six free throws in the second half and overtime.

As a team, Detroit Lakes was 17-23 from the free-throw line, compared to just 6-14 for East Grand Forks.

The Laker win was the first since their COVID-19 pause two weeks ago as they improve to 7-4. They’ll travel to Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton on Thursday night. With the heartbreaker, EGF falls to 6-8. They’ll return home to face Roseau on Thursday.

EGF 32 34 5 – 71

DL 31 35 8 – 74

EGF – Sam Votava 17, Tanner Campos 15, Carter Vasek 12, Tyson Maher 8, Cole Gerber 6, Jonathan Krueger 5, Caleb Zejdlik 4, Joey Votava 2, Drew Carpenter 2, Spencer Egeland 2

3-pointers: Campos 3, Vasek 2, Maher 2, Krueger, S. Votava 1 Team Free Throws: 6-14. Foul Out: S. Votava, Campos

DL – Zack Oistad 16, Christian Solberg 12, Elias Gloege 11, Caeden Yliniemi, Chris Breeden 9, Matthew Tobkin 8, Clay Perkins 5, Nate Cihak 4

3-pointers: Breeden 2, Gloege 2, Tobkin 1. Team Free Throws: 17-23. Foul Out: N/A