The Blaine boys’ basketball squad dropped their sixth straight game when they lost at home to the Maple Grove Crimson on Friday night, 60-41.  The shooting was once again a weakness for Blaine, as the team shot just 28% from the floor. Kurt Gillund(12) stepped in for Blaine and scored 11 points for the Bengals.

After the first half, the Bengals and Crimson seemed like two very evenly matched teams when Maple Grove headed to the locker room with a 20-19 lead at halftime.  The game dramatically changed in the second half however, when Blaine seemed like they couldn’t grab a defensive rebound if their life depended on it.  Maple Grove outscored Blaine 40-22 in the second half, and won by 19.

Maple Grove’s starting point guard, Brycen Wojta(12), was tied for the most assists in the state heading into Friday’s game (with Kobe Critchley of Roseville and Bridge Tusler of Osseo) and added five more assists to his season total of 97. Matt Barthels(11) came one point and one rebound away from a double double for Blaine.

Blaine drops to a record of 5-9 and now faces an away game against Robbinsdale Armstrong on Tuesday night.

* All player and team stats are unofficial recordings