Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms boys basketball team downs Triton 64-53 Tuesday evening

In a game you heard on AM 1480 KAUS Tuesday evening, the Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms were looking to keep their record unblemished in Dodge Center versus Triton in a Gopher Conference matchup, and it was the Blossoms rallying to take a late first half lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way in a 64-53 win.

Blooming Prairie trailed by as many as seven in the first half at 15-8 before going on an 11-5 run to trim the Cobras’ lead to one at 20-19, and five quick points from guard Gabe Staloch helped the Blossoms end the half on a 9-4 run to take a 28-24 lead into the halftime break.  BP was able to push their lead to as large as ten to start the second half at 36-26, but the Cobras were able to rally as senior guard Jace Leonardo scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the half to help Triton cut the Blossoms lead to one at 43-42.  After a timeout, Blooming Prairie was able to pull away, thanks in large part to Staloch, who drained two crucial 3-pointers down the stretch, and also to Zach Hein, who swished a 3-pointer in scoring all five of his points in the second half as the Blossoms led by as many as 11 down the stretch on their way to the win.

Leading scorer Gabe Hein led the Blossoms in scoring Tuesday evening with 20 points, Staloch wound up with 15 points and three of BP’s five 3-pointers, Brady Kittleson was also in double figures with 13 points, Kolby Vigeland totaled seven points, Zack Hein added five points, and Jacob Pauly tallied four points in the win.

Blooming Prairie is now 11-0 on the season and 6-0 overall in the Gopher Conference, and the Awesome Blossoms kick off a three-game homestand Friday night versus Medford, with the Gopher Conference matchup scheduled to start at 7:15 p.m.