Jaxon Boschee Leading Bemidji Boys’ Basketball into Section 8AAAA Tournament

Bemidji boys’ basketball ended the regular season on a high note with a 75-44 win over St. Cloud Tech, capping off a 15-11 campaign. The Lumberjacks have wowed fans all year long with their prolific scoring offense, led by junior guard Jaxon Boschee, so despite being underdogs entering the Section 8AAAA tournament, the Jacks can’t be counted out just yet.

If you happened to catch a Bemidji boys’ basketball game this season, then you probably saw a three pointer or two – or three, or four. You get the point.

“We shoot a lot of threes, but we make a pretty high percentage at the same time,” said head coach Steve Thompson. “It’s just picking and choosing when we need to be more aggressive to the rim and when the shots are falling from the perimeter and just keep shooting the ball.”

And while the Lumberjacks have plenty of players who can drain a trey, no one can do it like Jaxon.

“Sometime it’s just insane to see some of the stuff he does,” said junior guard Jeron Huseby of his teammate.

“There’s moments where I’ll look and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, he’s not shooting that,'” added junior forward Austin Riewer. “And then he makes it and I’m like, ‘Oh, man, no way.'”

If the shot looks familiar, then maybe you’re a Kansas fan. Jaxon Boschee’s uncle Jeff played for the Jayhawks in the early 2000s, but he credits his father Mike, the head coach of the BSU men’s basketball team, with teaching him how to shoot.

“Ever since I was little, he’d take me to the gym, work on my form, all-around jump shot mechanics,” said Jaxon. “I’ve just kind of adapted a few things that felt comfortable, but it was definitely him that started it.”

As a junior, Boschee has expanded his game from being a pure three-point shooter to a more rounded scorer, allowing him to surpass the 1,000-point mark and pacing him to break the Bemidji all-time scoring record.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in the weight room, because I was always a scrawny kid growing up, so that was my biggest goal for this season,” Boschee added. “And then trying to work on my overall game, getting to the rim as much as I can, and I think it’s helped a lot.”

And it hasn’t just helped him. It’s also had a positive effect on the team.

“Anytime you have a player that garners as much attention as he does, it opens up opportunities for other players and for those other players to see those opportunities and take advantage of them,” said Thompson. “That’s a critical element for us moving into the playoffs.”

It’s even more crucial given their first-round opponent, Buffalo, who held the Lumberjacks to just 49 points, 20 fewer points than the Jacks’ per-game average.

“We were up at half [earlier] this year against Buffalo and we really struggled in the second half finding the right shot,” admitted Riewer. “We let up a lot of offensive rebounds for them. We had a lot of turnovers that we need to limit and then just really focusing in, dialing in, doing our assignment.”

“I just remember them being really scrappy and physical and they just really wanted it the first game,” said Huseby. “I think this game, we just really have to come in super physical and just out scrap them and just be more physical.”

Bemidji is the 6th seed and Buffalo is the 3rd seed. Tip-off for the quarterfinal is Wednesday, March 5th at 6 p.m.