Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

BLOOMING PRAIRIE – A Blooming Prairie senior not only got to celebrate his 18th birthday on the basketball court, he was also able to score a key bucket as the Awesome Blossoms opened their season with a 61-57 win over Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Friday.

Cooke gave BP the lead for good when he converted an inside move to put his team up 56-55 with 1:24 left and Gabe Staloch pushed that lead to 58-55 on a lay-up with 41 seconds left.

Cooke finished with nine points and 10 rebounds on a night where he had family and friends hoisting signs in the crowd in honor of his birthday. When it was his turn to attack, Cooke didn’t hesitate.

“I want it bad down there. When you’ve got smaller guys on you, you want to dominate them,” Cooke said. “(Us seniors) have all been here before and we just have to show the young guys the intensity that we need to win.”

BP (1-0 overall) took a 50-46 lead when Staloch hit a three off an offensive rebound from Brady Kittelson, but the Bucs scored six straight points to go up 52-50. Cooke tied the game at 52 on a post move as the game tightened up down the stretch.

Kittelson finished with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists. He will play an enormous role this season for BP, which graduated two of its two scorers – Gabe Hein and Zack Hein – from last year’s team that went to the Section 1A title game.

“We’ve still got great chemistry, we’ve been moving the ball and our defense was good,” said Kittelson. “We still have some things to improve on, but overall we played well tonight and we worked together.”

BP head coach Cam Rutledge said his team should dominate on the boards with a height advantage this season, and he also thinks they will compete with the best.

“Last season kind of set the bar and just because we lost two of our top guys, doesn’t mean we’re going to take a step back,” Rutledge said. “I trust this team and I think we have a pretty good team. We just have to take good shots and take care of the ball.”

Staloch finished with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists for BP.

WEM (2-1 overall) took a 16-9 lead early in the game, but BP bounced back and it took a 24-23 lead when Cooke scored on a put-back. The Bucs led by as many as 39-34 in the second half, but it was a back-and-forth battle from that point on. 

WEM was led by Nathaniel Boese, who scored 23 points, while Owen Frodl chipped in 16.

“In the first game of the year, you never know what you’re going to look like and this was their third game of the year. They have two of the top players in the conference, but I thought Gabe and Brady did a good job holding those guys in check,” Rutledge said. 

WEM 30  27 –   57

BP 32  29  –  61

BP stats: Brady Kittelson, 20; Gabe Staloch, 17; Cooper Cooke, 9; Bradley Boyd, 7; Lukas Hager, 3; Carter Bishop, 2; Carsten Ingvalson, 2; Jacob Pauly, 1