Osseo Senior High School  boys basketball coach Tim Theisen grinned when asked about his team’s defensive performance against Moorhead. The Orioles defeated the Spuds 99-53 Saturday, Jan. 9. “I haven’t had a team defend like this for a long time,” Theisen said.  

Overlooked, maybe. But his fifth ranked Orioles are hanging their hats on tough nosed defense and transition basketball and are undefeated at 13-0.

Six Osseo players scored double digit points led by Damario Armstrong’s 19. The Orioles played a near flawless first half leading 67-28 at the break. Defensively, they forced 22 Spuds turnovers in the first half turning those into 16 points.

“First half, that’s some of the best transition basketball I think I’ve seen,” Theisen said. “When you go into a halftime and you’re up 37 it’s kind of tough to keep that motivation. We ended up winning the second half.”

The second half provided more of the same as the Orioles played suffocating full court defense and forced Moorhead into turnovers outscoring the Spuds 32-25.

Thursday night, the Orioles took care of No. 4 Champlin Park 77-64.

Friday, Jan. 15 - Theisen and his team take aim at No. 3 Maple Grove. “It’s always fun when the communities get together,” Theisen said. “The gym will be packed, it will be loud. These kids grow up together and once they part ways, there’s that natural rivalry. We have two teams in this community that are two of the top five teams in the state. That says a lot about the way these kids have been brought up in the area.”

Box Score:
Osseo: Quincy Williams 2; John Bezdicek 4; Allan Anderson 13; Kyle Williams 7; Damario Armstrong 19; Mar Mar Hughes 12; Zack Theisen 14 Dontae Jones 11; Kameron Bettie 13; Nash Jensen 4

Moorhead: Logan Garcia 2; Alend Alemadi 5; Matt Bye 12; Ethan Hoff 2; Noah Melton 11; Zech Klindt 9; Nate Stitch 1; Leif Engen 11