For 5 seasons, this historic boys basketball team put up 100 points every third game

CASS LAKE, Minn. — Dan Ninham had a simple philosophy he instilled in his basketball teams at Cass Lake-Bena 20 years ago.

“The concept coach Dan had was we had a shot clock of seven seconds. He wanted to get a good quality shot in seven seconds no matter what,” former player Martin Wind recalled.

During a five-year run from 2004-2009, the Panthers scored more than 100 points in more than one-third of their games, setting several state records along the way.

Those teams appear in the state’s top 10 lists for field goals made and field goals attempted, including the top spots for shot attempts (2,455 in 2008-09) and shots made (1,263 in 2006-07).

Ninham was inspired by former George Mason head coach Jim Larrañaga, installing a 2-3 scramble defense and applying heavy pressure beyond the half-court line.

Eric Stromgren / Bemidji Pioneer

Those Panthers teams own the top three single-season marks in the state for steals in a season.

“We averaged 31 forced turnovers [a game] in six years,” Ninham said, “and this was against all levels of competition.”

They welcomed the challenge. Two of their four losses in the 2007-08 season were to a Tennessee squad in the Gatorade Shootout and later to Hopkins (Minn.) 114-90.

On paper, Cass Lake-Bena simply blew opposing teams out of the gym. In a January 2009 game, the Panthers not only scored more than 100 points against Lake of the Woods, they won by 111 points in a 133-22 victory.

“I mean, we did it to everyone,” said Wind, who now coaches the Cass Lake-Bena girls team. “We didn’t really run the score up.”

And yes, the starters were often pulled early.

“There were nights where … we were getting 20 minutes and our JV is playing 15 or so and our JV was the same way: run, run, run,” Wind said. “We didn’t press the whole second half and we just kind of sat back and played defense.”

Ninham believes the state's 2015 mercy rule, where the clock continually runs with a team up by 35 with nine minutes to play, was likely influenced by his teams.

Dave Wallis / The Forum

It required all five players on the floor relentlessly handling their assignments. The team had quickness in the backcourt, sharpshooters on the perimeter and height in the middle, including the Salscheider twins Nate (6-foot-5) and Joel (6-foot-6).

“We had a very unselfish team,” said Nate Salscheider, who played from 2004-2008 and is now a counselor in the district. “It didn’t matter who had the ball, we were all working to score and put ourselves in the best position to do that. We were helping our teammates out by setting certain screens on and off the ball and stuff like that. Coach Dan gave us a good structure to work with and he loves to run.”

The team scored 100 points in eight consecutive games during the 2006-07 season. That streak, which averaged 109.4 points per game, is tied for the fourth longest in the U.S.

“When we got 95 on the ninth game, someone told me about the record and I didn’t know about it,” Ninham said. “Looking at the schedule we could’ve went longer with consecutive games but records weren’t the key and execution of our game plan of offense and defense guided us.”

While the streak ended in a 95-47 win over Deer River on Feb. 6, 2007, the Panthers would throw 124 on the board the next game and finish the regular season posting triple digits in 12 of their last 14 contests.

The wins piled up too. From 2004 to 2009, Cass Lake-Bena was 135-22.

“We kind of wanted to put on the show no matter who we were playing,” said Brady Fairbanks, who played from 2004-07 and led the state in scoring his senior season.

But a state championship has eluded them, even in that remarkable 30-win season of 2006-07. Long before the season began, Cass Lake-Bena fans were reserving hotel rooms for the state tournament in March, Wind said. “They expected us to be there.”

After making the state finals in 2007 for the first time, Ellsworth’s Aaron Van Der Stoep made a 3-pointer with 5.4 seconds to play to hand Cass Lake-Bena a 74-73 defeat in the Class A title game.

“It sucks, Cass Lake has not won a championship in any sport,” Wind said.

Salscheider said the state games on longer NBA and college courts limited the Panthers to what they could do defensively. Plus, opposing teams had more room to avoid the traps and pressure.

“Even as a high school kid, I was like, ‘Man, this is such a disadvantage for our team and our playing style,” Salscheider said.

Wind finished with 2,622 points during his career, a school record until Gabby Fineday broke it on Jan. 10. His 28 assists in a 104-46 win over Pine River-Backus on Dec. 16, 2008, remains as the best in the state all-time and fifth nationally .

Fairbanks, a North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, rattles off teams, players and statistics like it was yesterday. The former Bemidji State standout has little regret not bringing home first-place state hardware, but has a greater understanding of the meaning just to get there.

He even penned a letter to the hometown paper noting how it brought the community together.

“A lot of those kids had never seen people from the same reservation or same city as them take that place and be on that pedestal and have a chance to win a state championship,” he said. “It hurt, but I was really grateful for the opportunity to be able to compete at that level with such great players.”