The second place finish qualifies Paynesville for the Minnesota Invitational Tournament on June 14 in St. Cloud.
The tournament started for Paynesville with an 8 a.m. game against Upsala. This game proved to be just the perfect kickoff as the Bulldog’s coasted to a 47-16 win. The eighth graders were led by J.T. Koehn with 10 points and T. J. Schultz with nine.
The second game proved to be the highlight of the day as Paynesville played rival Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, a team they had lost to three times this year. Falling behind by as many as 12 points in the second half, the Bulldogs scrapped back and finally edged ahead with five minutes to go. After a minute or two of back and forth ball, Paynesville went on another surge and pulled away for a 44-35 victory. This turned out to be ACGC’s only defeat of the year. Leading scorers were Koehn with 20 points and Trevor Schmitz with eight.
Another nail biter was up next as the St. Cloud Sonics sunk a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. Schmitz scored three points in the overtime to propel Paynesville to a 33-30 victory. Schmitz led the team with 10 points.
This brought the Bulldogs to the championship game against Cold Spring Rocori. A physically worn-out Bulldog squad couldn’t keep up with the Spartans. Getting to within three points in the second half was as close as they would come, losing 35-28. Adam Gifford was the leading scorer with eight points.
Team members are Davis Hoekstra, Scott Ingalsbe, Clayton Lang, Nathan Martinson, Brian Stelling, Adam Gifford, J.T. Koehn, Logan Louis, T.J. Schultz, and Trevor Schmitz. The team is coached by Dave Randgaard.