When East Grand Forks plays at Ada-Borup on Tuesday, it will be one of the premier matchups this season in the Red River Valley area between Fargo and Grand Forks. The two teams have just one loss between them and could very well be the Section 8 representatives in the Class 2A and Class 1A state tournaments.
Ada-Borup (14-1, 6-0) takes an eight-game winning streak into Tuesday's game, with the No. 3-1A Rams' last loss coming in a 84-70 blemish to No. 2-1A Henning on Jan. 4.
It's Ada-Borup's 6-10 Mason Miller who worries East Grand Forks coach Josh Perkerwicz the most.
"Miller is going to hurt us inside, because that's the one thing we really don't have is that height," Perkerwicz said.
Guards Preston Gwin and Chase Buchholz, and forward Avery Okroi are other top players for the Rams, who placed fourth at last season's Class 1A state tournament.
East Grand Forks (14-0, 5-0) has a strong group of seniors that surround junior guard Sam Votava, a 1,000-point scorer and the school's all-time assists leader. Guard Julian Benson (18.5 ppg), senior Nathan Willet (18.4 ppg) and center Tyler Aamodt (9 ppg) are also key contributors.
Perhaps a bigger problem than the 6-foot-10 Miller for the No. 7-2A Green Wave will be the anticipation of its Feb. 15 game against No. 4-2A Minneapolis North. Perkerwicz said he has been swamped with requests from neighboring high school teams for tickets to the game that was added only recently as a replacement for an earlier game that was canceled due to bad weather. The East Grand Forks gym seats about 2,300 people and Perkerwicz said he's been exploring the possibility of finding a larger venue, although the University of North Dakota has been ruled out.