Orono overwhelms Benilde-St. Margaret’s in boys basketball, claims spot at state

Orono left no doubt Thursday about who is the best team in Class 2A, Section 6 boys basketball. The Spartans had the upper hand on Benilde-St. Margaret’s at both ends of the floor in a 76-55 victory in the section final at Benilde-St. Margaret’s.

It’s the third year in a row that Orono ended Benilde-St. Margaret’s season in the section final. Last year, it was on a buzzer-beater by Nolan Groves.

Groves, the state’s leading scorer, was back at it Thursday, helping the Spartans pull away in the second half, when he scored 24 of his 34 points.

“I knew in the second half, we’d come out firing,” Groves said. “Aggressive. That’s how we are as a team. We’re aggressive on offense. We’re smart and we’re scrappy on defense.”

On the defensive end, the Spartans did not let the Red Knights (26-3) get into a rhythm at any point. They kept the ball out of the paint, and when the Red Knights were able to get looks, the shots weren’t falling.

“We put our 2-3 zone in, and we wanted to give them a soft press, a little more pressure. Because the first two times Jaleel [Donley] was able to get them into anything they wanted and get their guys to their spots,” Spartans coach Barry Wohler said. “We just wanted to make them a little uncomfortable. Our guys did a really nice job matching up out of the zone and rebounding.”

The Spartans (22-7) started to pull away from the Red Knights late in the first half without Groves. He was assessed his third foul of the game with just under five minutes left in the first half and spent the rest of the half on the bench.

In that time, the Spartans built a nine-point lead that they took into halftime. The stretch included a rare three-point shot from Brady Wooley, who finished with 13 points.

“He’s been working on his three-pointer,” Groves said. “I knew that was going in. It looked good right out of his hand. That was a huge shot. So props to Brady.”

Jalen Wilson scored 13 points in the first half for the Red Knights but was troubled by cramping in the second half. He was out of the game twice to get help from the trainers, and finished with 15 points.

“We never got into a rhythm. We didn’t knock down shots. They did,” Red Knights coach Damian Johnson said. “We didn’t get the good looks that we normally do. We didn’t play enough inside-out. We settled too much.”

TJ Stuttley led the Red Knights with 21 points, including 17 in the second half.