Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

It’s never easy beating the same team three times in one season. So in hindsight, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing when the boys basketball team lost to White Bear Lake, 47-46, on Feb. 20, because that concern no long existed when the Rangers hosted the Bears on Thursday night in the first round of the Section 4AAAA playoffs.

In its place was an eagerness from Forest Lake to prove to White Bear (10-16), once and for all, that the Rangers were indeed the better team. That point wasn’t necessarily hammered home during Forest Lake’s 64-51 victory, but rather consistently reinforced with drives to the basket, superior rebounding, timely three-pointers and solid defense.

Except for a small drought in the middle of the first half, the Ranger offense scored when it wanted to, and then put up eight straight points before halftime when it needed to, for a 33-27 lead.

The Bears never really threatened after intermission, where Forest Lake’s six-point lead might grow to 10, and White Bear didn’t appear to find a rhythm on offense or an answer on defense.

With the 13-point win, the Rangers (15-11) now head to Concordia University on Tuesday, March 13 for an 8 p.m. game against No. 1 seed Johnson High School (22-4).

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