Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms boys basketball team falls to Medford 77-75 in OT Friday night

The Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms boys basketball team was in search of win number one on the season in Medford versus the Tigers in a Gopher Conference tilt Friday night, and in a battle between two evenly-matched teams that went into overtime, it was the Tigers outscoring the Blossoms 10-8 in the extra session to pull out a 77-75 win.

Blooming Prairie led 37-35 at the half, but the Tigers were able to outscore the Blossoms 32-30 in the second half to send the game into the extra session.  The game saw the Tigers attempt 28 more field goals than the Blossoms (81-53) and hit 28 of them for 34%, while Blooming Prairie was 33 for 56 for 58%, and the Tigers were also not shy about putting up jumpers from beyond the three-point arc as they attempted 36 of them in the game and sank eight for 22%, while the Blossoms were 7 of 13 from beyond the 3-point line for a blistering 56%.  Two big factors in the win for Medford were free throws, as Blooming Prairie was only 2 of 13 for 15%, while the Tigers were 13 for 26 for 50%, and the Tigers also won the battle of the boards 42-34.

The Blossoms had four players in double figures in scoring, led by Gabe Hein, who tallied 21 points, a team-high nine rebounds and two assists Friday night, Zack Hein scored 19 points, plus he added three rebounds, a team-high three steals and registered the only blocked shot for BP for the game, Brady Kittleson contributed 16 points, six rebounds and three assists, Jacob Pauly tallied 13 points and five rebounds, and Cooper Cooke scored six points, plus he pulled in eight rebounds, dished out a team-high four assists and added a steal in the overtime loss.

Blooming Prairie is now 0-4 on the season, and the Blossoms are back in action at home next Tuesday night versus the Hayfield Vikings, with the varsity tip-off at 7:15 p.m.