Cook County, Silver Bay advance in boys' basketball playoffs; play Saturday

The Cook County Vikings will face the Fond du Lac Ojibwe in the quarter-finals round of the Section 7-A boys’ basketball playoffs Saturday afternoon at 1 o’clock.

The game will be the first game of four to be played at the Hibbing Memorial Arena. The North Shore’s Silver Bay will close out the day of basketball by facing Lakeview Christian Academy at 7:45 PM.

The 20-2 Vikings moved into the quarterfinals by stopping Cromwell 74-49 last night in Hermantown. Fond du Lac advanced with a 70-60 win over South Ridge. Fond du Lac is 11-13 for the season.

Dylan Quaife soared to 29 points as the Vikings outscored Cromwell 42-15 in the first half. The Cardinals did come back in the second half and scored 34 points to 32 for the Vikings.

In addition to Quaife’s 29, two other Vikings were in double-figures. David Bergstrom scored 14 and Colin Everson hit 13. Other Vikings in the scoring column were Justin Goldstein with seven, Jonny Jacobsen with six and Mike Sjogren with four.  

Jake Ramberg led the Cardinals in their final game of the season with 20.

The winner of the Cook County-Fond du Lac game will face the winner of the Littlefork-Big Falls match-up with North Woods at 6 PM, Wednesday, March 14 at the Hibbing Memorial Arena. Littlefork-Big Falls has a 13-10 mark going into Saturday’s game while North Woods currently is 20-3.

Meanwhile, Silver Bay managed to outlast the Floodwood Polar Bears to take a 58-51 win. Silver Bay held a two-point 23-21 advantage at the end of the first half before outscoring Floodwood 35-30 in the second for the seven-point win.

Henry Mitchell and Kyle Blood turned in a two-punch scoring performance with 18 and 16 each. Baruch Fisher and Taylor Woodwick scored nine while Luke Thune hit 7.

Riley Bernsdorf led the Polar Bears and all scorers with 20.

The Mariners are 13-11 as they prepare to go up against Anders Broman and the 22-5 Lakeview Christian Academy Lions in their game at Hibbing. Broman is a junior and is the second highest scoring boys basketball player in history.

The winner of the Mariners-Lions contest is scheduled to face the winner of the Mesabi East-Big Fork game at 7:45 PM, Wednesday, March 14 in Hibbing. Mesabi East holds a 12-15 record this year while Big Fork is 20-6.