The intensity for the Eau Claire North/River Falls Big Rivers Conference boys' basketball match-up could be felt at the scorer's table during a short first-half stoppage in play Thursday night in River Falls.

The clock operator took approximately two seconds to start the clock during play, an error correctly fixed. A North assistant coach was visibly upset and told the scorer's table to "do your job!"

The Wildcats were without the services of junior guard Brody Graetz for much of the second half due to a leg injury. An MRI the following day confirmed Graetz had a slight tear in a quad muscle and will be sidelined for about a month. Graetz leads the Wildcats in scoring at over 18 points per game. Graetz is third overall in scoring in the BRC and leads the conference in steals. Graetz is only behind Memorial's Cooper Jesperson (20.4 points/game) and North's Elliott Bessen (20.2 points/game) for tops in conference. Both are seniors. Jesperson is a Winona State commit. Bessen is headed to play at UW-Platteville next season.

With Graetz on the bench in pain and the North assistant coaching staff concerned about the clock, it was time for Wildcat Preston Johnson to shine. The 6'2" senior, headed to Minnesota State University-Moorhead to play football next year, pumped in a game-high 30 points on 13 of 18 shooting, including 3 of 4 from behind the arc. Johnson's biggest shot of the night was a drive to the basket on the left-side with just over three seconds left in the game and the score tied at 58-apiece.

Johnson, a lefty, pulled up for a running 7-foot jumper near the baseline and knocked it down to give the Wildcats the lead by two and 3.2 seconds remaining.

"Preston played with great energy," said Turpin. "It's something we come to expect for him nightly. We know we are going to get his best effort and why he's a leader for us."

River Falls had three fouls to give before the Huskies were in the bonus situation. The Wildcats fouled right away after the first inbound. After the second inbound and a North assistant coach glaring at the scorer's table in defiant fashion, the Huskies senior captain Aaron Gust received the pass and dashed around Wildcat defenders escaping intentional foul attempts and heaved up a three from the top of the key just as the final horn sounded.

Gust's shot hit nothing but the bottom of the net. The North fans went crazy. The Wildcat faithful leaned back with their palms on their foreheads, stunned. The Huskies prevailed 61-60. The North assistant coach walked by the scorer's table and provided a swaggering shoulder shrug as if to say, "We gotcha."

"They hit a tough shot," said Turpin. "We would've liked to have given another foul but they did a good job avoiding it. It's wrong to think the result happened because of the last shot. We had opportunities throughout the game to execute offensively and defensively better. I need to do a better job of getting us to be more consistent in our execution. We discussed the need to learn from the loss."

River Falls' Eli Johnson finished with eight points and nine rebounds, while Austin Stellrecht pulled down 10 boards and chipped in with six points.

(Boys Basketball) Kaukauna-74, River Falls-55

On Saturday night, the Wildcat boys took on Kaukauna in the 15^th annual Midwest Classic at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse, Wis. The Galloping Ghosts came away with the 74-55 victory. Preston Johnson, again, had a team-high 18 points on 9 of 18 shooting. Tanner Bottolfson finished with 11 and was 3 of 7 from behind the arc. Cullen Johnson chipped in with eight points, while shooting 2 of 3 from three-point range.

UW-Green Bay commit Keegan Van Kauwenberg led all scorers with 26 points. Van Kauwenberg also dished out seven assists.  

The Wildcats fell to 8-4 overall and 3-3 in conference play. On Friday, Jan. 24, Coach Turpin and his squad will travel to Menomonie to take on the Mustangs. Tip-off is at 7:15 p.m.