Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

That's more like it. The boys basketball team entered the season with great expectations and a deep line-up that could take them places.

A beast of an early schedule, however, had Forest Lake losing four in a row in December and looking at the bottom side of .500. But with nearly matching 72-60 and 71-61 victories over Hastings and White Bear Lake, the boys have now won four of their last five and resemble a squad that hopes to win the Suburban East Conference and make it to state.

"I think after the Woodbury game the team realized we could match up athletically with the best teams in the conference," head coach Dan Cremisino noted. "We were holding teams down but were not scoring enough points. We needed to be more aggressive with the basketball and go more on the attack."

The Rangers hosted White Bear Lake on Friday, Jan. 12, and were able to keep it close early and went into the locker room tied with the Bears at 30-30. The way the Rangers pull together in the second half, this could not be a good sign for White Bear.

Over the last 18 minutes, Forest Lake (7-5, 2-3) would build its 10-point lead behind an offense that is becoming so balanced it's difficult for the opposing defense to shut down everyone.

If junior Brad Kopp wasn't connecting for one of his seven points, then point guard Drew Cremisino was heating up for some of his 11. Try shutting down senior Aaron Jacobs on his way to a team-high 18 points? That's okay, because junior Ryan Brown is collecting 14 points and senior Matt Hansmann is picking up 13 on the way to Forest Lake's 71-61 victory.

"So the message as we prepared for last week's games was we needed everyone on the floor to be a threat to score," coach Cremisino pointed out. "We also wanted to not only control tempo but push tempo and create more opportunities to score in the full court."

HASTINGS WIN

The week started on a good note as the Rangers traveled to Hastings on Tuesday evening and came away victorious, 72-60.

Unlike previous struggles where the boys dig themselves a double-digit hole, the team found its offense early and rolled into halftime with a comfy 36-23 advantage.

Hastings would hold steady in the second half, but the 13-point deficit was too large for the Raiders, and Forest Lake would earn it first conference win of the season.

In a sign that the Rangers must be playing well, the offense distributed the scoring among nine players, with the ever-steady Jacobs leading the way with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Backing him up were Hansmann with 11 points and four assists, Brown with 11 points, Drew Cremisino with seven points and four assists, and junior Brandon Phelps with eight points.

This week the schedule continues with its high degree of difficulty as Forest Lake went to Robbinsdale-Armstrong (9-4) on Tuesday, and then head to Park (10-4, 2-2) on Friday, where Jake Lindstrom and his 27 points per game average will need to be addressed by the Ranger's first-rate defense.

"Armstrong and Park both present different challenges. We hope to carry the good feelings from last week into this week," coach Cremisino shared.

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