WASECA – On paper, the Albert Lea Tigers were decided underdogs against the Waseca Bluejays in the Section 2AAA Boys’ Basketball Tournament.

Wednesday, March 07, 2001

WASECA – On paper, the Albert Lea Tigers were decided underdogs against the Waseca Bluejays in the Section 2AAA Boys’ Basketball Tournament.

On the court, the Bluejays showed why. But it didn’t happen until the third quarter and it took a phenomenal performance to do it.

John Arnold, a 6-foot senior guard, spearheaded a 17-2 third-quarter run as Waseca broke open a tie game at halftime and handed the Tigers a 67-52 setback Tuesday night.

&uot;Arnold just killed us,&uot; said Tigers coach Jason Bakke.

That’s for sure.

He finished with 24 points, going 5-for-5 on three-pointers, 7-for-7 overall from the floor and 5-for-5 at the free-throw line.

&uot;It’s tough to stop that,&uot; said Bakke. &uot;It was definitely the difference in the game.&uot;

In the first half, there wasn’t any difference.

The Tigers trailed early but led 12-9 at the end of the first quarter. It was 23-23 at halftime. Waseca was up 49-37 after three quarters.

Chris Rebelein led the Tigers with 20 points. David Dahl scored 10, Nick Cunningham six, Matt Ladwig four, Josh Kasper four, Ben Woodside three, Jay Link three and Scott Hoeg two.

The Tigers were 18-for-39 from the floor and 12-for-18 on free throws while Waseca went 24-for-48 and 11-for-20. The Tigers outrebounded the Bluejays 27-25 but had 20 turnovers to Waseca’s 11.

Albert Lea, seeded sixth out of eight teams in the section, finished 6-16. The third-seeded Bluejays, who won a second straight South Central Conference title this season, improved to 15-5.

The Tigers graduate five seniors in Ladwig, Dahl, Kevin Peterson, Cunningham and Rebelein.