VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) –
Maple River Raiders 51 Barnes County North 46
It was the opening game of the 2022 Barnes County Classic boys basketball tournament held at the W.E Osmon Fieldhouse in Valley CIty. The Bison led only once in this ball game and that was back in the first quarter when they had a 5-2 lead. That is when Caleb Kocka would make back to back 3’s for the Raiders to give them an 8-2 lead, one that they would not give up for good. Maple River led this one at the half 30-18. Coming out of the half, Barnes County relied on Oliver Hanson as he did an excellent job of streaking down the lane getting open and hitting his layups. Colten Straub also hit a couple of 3’s to help his team get back in this game. In the end the size of Evan Richman was just too much for the Bison to handle as he finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Enderlin Eagles 70 LaMoure/Litchville-Marion 49
Game 2 saw the Eagles quickly jump out to the lead. It was 6-11 senior forward Joe Hurlburt hitting a 3. Joe Hurlburt got his team going in the first half with multiple dunks injecting plenty of energy on the Enderlin bench. Lamoure chipped away the best they could in the first half as Corban Potts led his team with 9 points. In the end the size miss match was too much to handle for LaMoure, as Joe Hurlburt led his team with a double double with 28 points and 13 rebounds into a victory. Hurlburt would put the icing on the cake with a 2 hand slam dunk in the final minute.
Four Winds JV 59, Wyndmere-Lidgerwood 48
In the third game, the junior varsity team from Four Winds competed in their first and only game of the tournament and defeated Region 1 opponent Wyndmere-Lidgerwood. Four Winds sophomore guard Wade Nestell took over for the Indians in the first half scoring 15 points. Both teams shot really well in the opening 16 minutes with Wyndmere-Lidgerwood shooting 45% and Four Winds shooting 50%. The third quarter is when the Warbirds were able to claw their way back into the game outscoring the Indians 18-5. However, after a scoreless third quarter, Nestell resumed his terrific play and finished the day with 22 points, leading them to the win. The Indians sophomore other guard Keyshawn St. Pierre finished with 12 points on limited playing time due to foul trouble. 6-foot-11 junior center Bryer Kaczynski finished with 19 points on 9-14 shooting and junior power forward Mathais Kackman finished with 10 points.
Sargent County 77, Dunseith 73
The final game lived up to its time slot with both teams shooting lights out in a riveting back-and-forth game that came down to the final seconds. We got a taste of what the game was going to be like right away with Sargent County scoring 22 points in the first quarter. Dunseith put up the highest quarter amount of the game in the second quarter responding with a whopping 26 points to take a 42-40 lead at the half. The Bulldogs shot a remarkable 69.2% from the floor in the opening 16 minutes compared to Dunseith’s comparably inferior, but still impressive 48.6% shooting percentage. With a shade over ten seconds left, and the Dragons trailing by two, junior forward Gaven Christianson stole the ball and circled back from an open layup opportunity only to give it to the streaking senior center Logan Decker who slammed it down with two hands to go up by four to end the game. Sargent County sophomore small forward Luke Martinson dropped 31 points on 12-15 shooting and a perfect 4-4 from deep. Elswhere, the Bulldogs got 14 points apiece from Christianson and junior guard Fletcher Willprecht. Decker finished with 13 points as well. For the Dragons, their three stars made up 67 of team’s 73 points. They were led by senior guard Ethan Morin who fouled out, but still ended up with a double-double with 28 points on 12-24 shooting and 11 rebounds. He was also three assists and five steals away from a quadruple-double. Senior guard Jalen Poitra contributed 23 points and six rebounds on 7-11 shooting. Senior guard Chad Parisien also got 16 points.