Hankinson, ND (NewsDakota.com) – The Oakes Tornadoes may have led most of the game against the #6 Hankinson Pirates but a poor fourth quarter and bad free throw shooting allowed Hankinson to sneak away with a 64-62 victory.

The game started on the right footing for the Tornadoes and especially Eddie Garza as he scored 13 points in the first quarter while Hankinson struggled to get going. The Tornadoes shot 7/15 in the quarter and led 15-7 at the break. That lead would be evaporated as Hankinson would battle back to bring it within 2 as RaeShaun Earl started to get going in the 2nd quarter. He’d go 3/5 for 8 points on the quarter and 11 on the half. Garza had 17 in the first half. Oakes would lead at the half 28-26.

The 3rd quarter was a quarter of runs as nothing could split the two teams with Oakes retaining a two point lead at 49-47 at the end of the quarter. The 4th quarter saw Oakes open the quarter shooting 0-7 while Hankinson didn’t miss a shot till halfway through the quarter. Hankinson would take a 9 point lead a lead they would not give up for the rest of the game. The Tornadoes would mount a comeback in the final couple of minutes with Trey Skoglund hitting a 3 to bring it to within 2, but with under 5 seconds left Oaklee Medenwalt didn’t need to inbound the ball as the clock ran out on the game. The final score was 64-62.

The leading all around scorer was RaeShaun Earl who went 9/13 on the night and 7/7 from the free throw line for 29 points. Eddie Garza led Torndado scoring going 9/14 from the field and 3/6 from the stripe for 21 points and had 9 boards. Roddek Schmit had a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards.

The Bank North Player of the Game was Eddie Garza.

Next up for the Tornadoes is Maple River on Saturday, January 20th at 1:30 in Oakes. Pregame begins at 1:15 on 106.1 Thunder Country.