Cloquet Boys Basketball Solidifying Themselves as Contenders This Season

With 10 games to go in the regular season, the Cloquet boys basketball team is just one victory away from tying their win total from a year ago.

CLOQUET, Minn.- With 10 games to go in the regular season, the Cloquet boys basketball team is just one victory away from tying their win total from a year ago.

The Lumberjacks also sit at the top of the Lake Superior Conference with a 6-1 record.

This year’s squad features six seniors on the roster, that includes Mr. Basketball nominee Jack Battaglia.

Head Coach Steve Battaglia says the group’s chemistry off the court is a big reason for their success on the court.

“It helps a ton. These guys are all best buddies, when they’re in the gym or outside at a game or whatever they’re doing, they’re always socially interacting. So this is just an extension of that friendship and that bond. You can tell where they know where each other is going to be. They know who does what well and how they do it, they’ve been doing it for so long,” said Battaglia.

The success they’ve been having this year is something new but they know that it can be taken away if they lose focus.

“Yeah we’re doing better than we ever have as a group before. We have a pretty good record these last couple of weeks, we’ve battling through some injuries and sicknesses so we haven’t been playing our best. It’s been fun this year, winning games is fun. Last couple of year we haven’t been able to do as much as we’re doing now. We’re winning but we’re not trying to get caught up. We’re winning that much but we still have a job to do. That’s what we’re trying to do every game, win 1-0 everyday,” added Jack Battaglia.

We’ll have much more on Battaglia in this week’s Northern Star. That airs on Wednesday Night at 9 PM.