Basketball season ends

Nash Faulk scored 19 points and Marcus Ayala 14 for the Central Lakes College Raiders as their outstanding basketball season ended in the semifinals of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference tournament Feb. 26 with a 72-63 loss to the Anoka-Ramsey Rams on their home court. Maurice Hernandez added 13 points for CLC. The Raiders trailed by just four points at the half but were outscored 34-29 in the second half. CLC finishes with a 26-3 record and a No. 6 national ranking in Division III of the National Junior College Athletic Association. They had been as high as second. The season produced the most wins in the history of the Raider men’s program. In the state championship, the nation’s second-ranked team, Rochester (28-2), defeated Anoka-Ramsey (22-8), 74-70, in overtime on Feb. 27 to advance to the national tournament in New York March 10-12. Rochester had three players on the five-man all-tournament team, Anoka-Ramsey landed the other two spots.