“It was tough for us, because Cole’s just such a good player,” Nicollet head coach Chris Hulke said. “I’ve played against Cole, I coached him in AAU years and years ago. We didn’t have a lot of answers for him, as I’m sure the stat line will say.

“We’re just proud of how the guys stuck with it. We told them Cole is going to score, he’s that good, even if we have a hand up. But we just stuck with it, and offensively, we got out and ran, did a good job of rebounding and forced some tougher shots, and we attacked the rim, made a bunch of layups and got to the line. Just proud of the way the guys hung in there.”

While Henry Kennedy was the leading scorer for Nicollet with 25 points, it was Henry Oscarson that came up big in the second half, scoring 23 points, 15 in the second half. Henry Oscarson took advantage of several open driving lanes to score in the paint down the stretch.

“I thought we just attacked the rim well,” coach Hulke said. “Henry Oscarson had a great game, Henry Kennedy had a great game, we just have a lot of options. We made a few shots, I wish we could have shot a little bit better, but we just have seven, eight guys that can score, we have 10 guys we think we can play, and that’s a huge advantage for us.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Nicollet’s Henry Kennedy puts up a reverse layup during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover boys basketball game against Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Monday at Nicollet High School.

Henry Oscarson credited his teammates for opening up the lanes for him.

“I just feel like my teammates, putting pressure on them, opens things up for me,” he said.

Carson Kettner added 12 points and Abe Madson scored 11 for Nicollet.

“They’re a really tough ball club,” GFW head coach Ryan Jacobson said. “Kennedy just attacks the rim and puts pressure on you. I thought we did a nice job of matching some of those plays on the offense just to keep pace with them. We had a couple of key mistakes right down the end. We were down 2 and turned it over up top, didn’t even get a look. That’s a tough one, and then they come down and score, now you’re down 4. That changes the whole trajectory of the game.

“Just really proud of how the guys responded in the second half. Got far more aggressive on the offensive end attacking the rim and getting into the paint. I was proud of how they competed.”

Aside from Cole Jacobson’s 40, Kaden Rieke had 13 points and Luke Bastian had 10 points.

Cole Jacobson hit a 3 to tie the game at 74 before Henry Oscarson drained a pair of free throws to retake the lead for Nicollet with 59 seconds to play. Henry Oscarson scored again on a cut and two more free throws to give Nicollet an 80-74 lead with 17.5 seconds to play. GFW’s Eric Herrera converted an and-one to make it an 80-77 game, but Kennedy added one more point on a free throw with 6.2 seconds to play, and Cole Jacobson missed a long 3-pointer to end the game.

“We run deep, so I think that helps us a lot,” Henry Oscarson said. “Some teams don’t even know who are starters are at times, so I think that helps us at times.”

GFW started the game with 3s from Rieke and Cole Jacobson for a 6-0 lead, but Nicollet struck back with a putback from Kettner and a 3 from Kennedy. A 3 from Henry Oscarson tied the game at 8 and started a 8-0 run, closed with a 3 from Keegan Hulke off of a spinning assist from Kennedy, to go up 13-8. GFW tied the game again at 13 after a layup from Bastian and a 3 from Cole Jacobson, and the teams battled back and forth, with Kettner dunking it in transition for a 17-15 lead. The game continued to be close, with a timeout from GFW with 5:05 to play in the half seeing the Firebirds with a 24-22 lead. Nicollet made a 7-2 run to close the half, with Toby Oscarson making a 3 just before the half-time buzzer to give the Raiders a 37-30 halftime lead.

GFW worked to stay in it in the second half after a layup from Nicollet’s AJ Kramer opened the half, with an and-one by Cole Jacobson cutting the lead to 44-38. The Firebirds continued to push, curing the lead down to 56-54 on a layup by Cole Jacobson, then taking a 58-57 lead as Cole Jacobson wound up for a strong dunk over the Nicollet defense.

“It was just going to the rim and putting our heads down and putting pressure on the defense that way,” coach Jacobson said. “When you attack, you bring two guys to the basketball, and instinctively, things will open up. In the first half they really did a nice job on us offensively, we were stagnant and not moving. Made that adjustment at halftime and got much better.”

Nicollet retook the lead on a pair of free throws from Kennedy, and a 3 from Madson gave the Raiders a 68-62 lead. GFW responded with a layup from Bastian, and the Firebirds called a timeout with 4:21 to play down 70-67. Cole Jacobson came out of the timeout with a putback and then tied the game at 71 with a layup. Henry Oscarson came back with a layup, then Kettner took to the line in the double bonus and made a free throw to give Nicollet a 74-71 lead. Cole Jacobson scored his 40th point on a 3 to tie the game, but Henry Oscarson took over down the stretch to lead Nicollet to victory.

“Just playing as a team,” Henry Oscarson said. “Never playing solo ball or iso ball or anything. Always passing to each other for assists. It’s just team ball.”

Nicollet (7-2) hosts Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther on Friday, while GFW (3-4) plays at Sleepy Eye on Tuesday.