The Patriots were called for 27 fouls to 19 for the Flyers and after the break, when the Patriots had led by 34-29, they were whistled for 13 fouls to the Flyers' five. Bagley shot 35 free throws in the game, making 27 to the Patriots' 12 for 18.

Patriot starters Jonas Dale and Jeffrey Redmond got into foul trouble as Dale was called for his third infraction with 9:07 left in the first half and in the first three minutes of the second half Redmond quickly picked up his third and fourth and Brandon Hilts was called for his fourth with just under nine minutes left in the game.

Neither was around to see the end as both fouled out in the late-going.

In the first four minutes of the game the Patriots got off to a great start to build a quick 9-2 lead on a reverse layup by Michael Ward, two long jumpers by Redmond and his lob-pass to Ward for a 3-point play.

After a basket by the Flyers', Michael Goerges drained a 3-pointer and it was 12-4, but Redmond was called for his second foul and went to the bench.

With 11:11 left, Dale hit a three for a 17-7 lead and they still led by 21-14 when Dale got his third foul with 9:07 to go.

At the 7:00 to go mark the Patriots led by 27-18 after a layup by Redmond, but the Flyers went on an 11-1 run to briefly lead by 29-28 with 2:00 left.

The Patriots then got the last five points on a free throw by Hilts, two by Goerges and two by Ward to build a 34-29 cushion at the half.

Redmond's third foul

may be a bad omen

When Redmond picked up his third foul just 1:04 into the second half, Patriots' fans may have sensed it was a bad omen for the favorites.

The Flyers quickly pulled to within 36-35 on a 12-footer by Jordan Nelson, but Redmond swished a 16-footer, but he picked up his fourth foul with 14:52 left and 11 seconds later Alex Beck connected from behind the arc and it was tied at 38-38.

Goerges gave the Patriots a 43-40 lead with 12.75 to go with a 3-pointer, but over the next 2:30 Clayton Foster, Hilts and Ward were all whistled for their third personals.

The Patriots had what was to be their last lead at 49-46 when William Liedl drilled a 14-footer, but with nine minutes left Keaton Fontaine hit a tre to tie it at 49-49.

Seconds later Hilts was called for his fourth and 6 ft. 7 inch John Tronnes hit two freebies to give the Flyers the lead that they would never relinquish.

Beck then hit another three and the Flyers' 6 ft. 7 inch Evan Klema, a 13-footer as the Flyers completed a 10-0 run for a 56-49 lead.

After a steal by Foster, Ward put in a rebound, but Fontaine got a layup and Beck also got loose for a layup and the defending Section 8, 2A champs led by 60-51 with only 5:33 to go.

A layup by Ward and an 18-footer by Goerges at the 3:30 mark had the Patriots within striking distance at 60-55, but the parade to the charity stripe was about to begin as the Flyers made nine of 12 chances to ice the win and send the Patriots home.

One Patriots' fan was overheard telling another after the game, "Well, I don't think the best team won this one and I was hoping to see them get to play Crosby-Ironton again, but all those fouls took care of that.

"Our guys gave a good effort and we played pretty well, but that third foul on Jonas (Dale) midway through the first half and those two quick ones on Jeff (Redmond) early in the second really hurt us," said Coach Grewe. "We played pretty well on defense and forced 27 turnovers, but unfortunately we didn't convert on enough of them.

"The difference in the game was at the line where they made 15 more than we did, but had four more field goals, although they outshot us by 46 to 40 percent," added the coach.

"It was a tough way for our four seniors, Brandon Hilts, William Liedl, Cole Howard and Bobby DeWolfe to have to go out this way, but we played some good ball at the end of the season, and if Brandon hadn't got hurt a couple of times and missed over half of the games, we maybe would have done better," he said. "As he was about the only one back with any experience.

"We had to settle for a 11 and 16 season, but with a talented bunch of guys coming up from a great JV team, I think we'll do much better next year," Grewe added. He finished by saying, "I would like to thank all our fans for their great support both at home and away.

Ward led the Patriots with 21 points, Goerges had 15 and Redmond and Dale had 10, while for the winning Flyers, Fontaine had 19, Beck 14, Nelson 11 and Klema and Tronnes each added 10.

The Patriots were outrebounded 33-30 with Ward grabbing 8 and Redmond 7 and the Patriots only had 18 turnovers while forcing 27.

Goerges had five assists and three steals and Dale had four assists.

In other East Subsection games top-seeded Crosby-Ironton beat Roseau 99-45, Warroad beat Pine River-Backus 47-36 and Park Rapids beat W-H-A 63-55, while in the West top-seeded Hawley beat Frazee East Grand Forks edged Wadena-Deer Creek, Pelican Rapids got by Crookston and Perham defeated Dizworth/Glyndon/-Felton.

In the quarterfinals on Thursday in the West EGF upset No. 1 Hawley and Pelican Rapids beat Perham, while in the East unbeaten Crosby-Ironton shot down the Bagley Flyers 78-59 to improve to 28-0 and No. 2 Warroad beat Park Rapids.

Friday in the West, Pelican Rapids won the Subsection title with a 69-45 win over East Grand Forks, while the C-I Rangers won the title with a 57-45 win over Warroad for their 29th straight win on Saturday at Bemidji State University.

At that same site on Tuesday of this week the Rangers were to meet Pelican Rapids for the Section 8AA title and a trip to the State Class 2A tourney.