BY HEIDI ZENEFSKI
Sports Correspondent

The heat was on in the gymnasium and the pressure was high as these Montrose and Elk Lake faced each other for the final time Tuesday, Feb. 10 in regular season play.

Prior to the start of the game, Elk Lake recognized their seniors with a Senior Night ceremony. The Warriors also proudly announced that throughout the season they had earned $19,000 to be donated to Coaches Vs. Cancer.

Montrose took a commanding lead in the first quarter by outscoring Elk Lake 15-5. Elk Lake points were scored by Ben Woolcock with two points, two steals, and a rebound and Hunter Watkins who sank a 3-pointer.

Points for the Meteors were scored by Brendan Buck with two and three

rebounds, Troy Ely with a 3-pointer, a blocked shot, and two steals, Austin Smith with a basket and a 3-pointer for five points, and Jack Fruehan with two baskets, a foul shot, four rebounds, and one block.

Elk Lake came to life in the second quarter and was able to outscore the Meteors 11-9.

Mid-way through the quarter, Montrose’s big man under the basket Jack Fruehan was elbowed in the face causing a significant cut above his left eye. Fruehan was unable to return to the game until after half-time.

Smith and Fruehan each scored two points and Buck scored five with two baskets and a foul shot. Andrew Bickford subbed in for Fruehan and grabbed a rebound and a steal.

Scoring for the Warriors was Bailey Newhart had two baskets, a foul shot, two rebounds and a steal. Teammates Woolcock and

Watkins helped out as well. Woolcock scored a 3-pointer and a foul shot. He also had a steal and a rebound. Watkins scored two points. At half-time the Meteors were up 24-16.

Fruehan re-entered the game after the half-time break. But he wasn’t able to stay in for long as blood started seeping through his bandage and the Elk Lake trainer had to attend to him on the sideline.

Despite his injury and missed playing time, Fruehan was still able to score a basket and a foul shot. His teammates stepped up to fill in for him. Mason Peck scored back to back 3-pointers. Smith scored went two of two from the foul line, added a basket, and a 3-pointer. Buck had two points and four rebounds.

Elk Lake’s Woolcock, fouled out of the game with five personal fouls at the beginning of the third. Tyler rallied the crowd by scoring three 3-pointers in a row, but it wasn’t enough as the only other points scored by the Warriors in the quarter was a basket from JJ Heft and foul shots by Watkins who went two of five from the line.

The Meteors outscored Elk Lake 18-13 increasing their lead to 42-29 going into the final quarter of play.
The final quarter were the hardest fought eight minutes of the game.

Fruehan was back in for good; but Elk Lake big man, Seth Tewksbury was out of the game from a sprained ankle injury suffered in a previous game against Forest City.

A significant height difference put Elk Lake’s Tyler – who was in for Tewsbury – at a disadvantage in his attempt to guard Fruehan. As the quarter went on, Tyler’s frustration became apparent.

Montrose kept rolling. Hunter Traver scored his first basket of the night for the Meteors. Fruehan also scored a basket and grabbed three rebounds. Buck made six points and two rebounds. Smith put the icing on the cake with a 3-pointer and by going six of six from the foul line, leaving him perfect on foul shots for the night, but he fouled out with a little less than two minutes left in the game.

The tension on the court reached a peak with just over five minutes left to go in the game. Tyler attempted to inbound the ball while guarded by Fruehan and appeared to swipe at the Montrose player’s bandaged forehead.

Fruehan pushed Tyler away and was called for a technical foul.

Newhart took the two technical shots for Elk Lake and made good on the second. He went four of six from the foul line in the quarter. Dalton Sherman went one of four from the foul line and had a steal as well. Sherman fouled out of the game with 53 seconds left and was replaced by freshman, Rierdan Reyan. Watkins scored his second 3-pointer of the game, grabbed a rebound and a steal. Tyler scored seven points for the Warriors including his fourth 3-pointer of the night and had a steal and a rebound.

In the last quarter Montrose outscored Elk Lake 19-15 to claim a win over the Warriors with a final score of 61-44.

The high scorer Montrose was Smith with 23 points, followed by Buck with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Fruehan with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Tyler was the high scorer for Elk Lake with 16 points, followed by Watkins with 10, and Newhart with nine points and six rebounds.