Sunset wins thriller

Conrad Dueck
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In a game featuring the top two scorers in the Fort Frances Men’s Basketball League, Sam Soderman’s game-high 35 points weren’t quite enough to propel RRFN to victory over Sunset Landscaping, led by Josh Mastin’s 21 points.
It was a tightly-fought game that was decided by foul points, as Sunset’s last six points came from the line as they held on to win 53-52 on Tuesday night at Fort High.
Brandon Larson netted 13 for RRFN while Sunset Landscaping owner Mark Heyens added 12 for his team.
In what would be described as an upset, BDO earned its first victory of the season (with team sponsor Mike Canfield watching on with approval) by edging Arctic Cat 47-43 in the night’s second game.
Todd Richards paced BDO with 23 points, scoring at a steady pace with slick shooting from all areas of the key.
Joey Angus had a team-high nine points for Arctic Cat, which struggled to get a consistent offence going.
With the loss, Arctic Cat now has dropped its last three games.
In almost a complete reversal from their previous meeting, Revco held on to a slim lead in the dying minutes to nip RRFN 60-58 in the night’s final game.
After being down early in the game, Revco pushed back with some excellent shooting by John Sivonen (25 points) and great driving to the hoop by Aaron Bujold (21).
Soderman was “held” to 25 points, which was a vote of confidence for Revco’s defence after he lit them up for 40 points in their last game.
Sunset leads the five-team league with a 9-3 record, followed by RRFN at 8-4.
Arctic Cat (7-5), Revco (66), and BDO (1-11) round out the standings.
Thanks to referee Toby Munro for maintaining a calm presence out there on the court.
Because of the excessive fouling that took place at the end of the close games, the suggestion was made that the 1-and-1 bonus shots kick in after five team fouls instead of seven for the second half.
With run time, we don’t end up having as many fouls, which means at the end there is a lot of wasted time trying to get the team into bonus shooting.
Let us know if you think that is a good idea.