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Lake, N.D. (NewsDakota.com)—-The opening day of the 2017 District 7 boy’s basketball tourney came to a close and Dakota Prairie (DP), New Rockford-Sheyenne (NRS), and Harvey-Wells County (HWC) all advanced to the semifinals. Top seeded and defending state champion Four Winds-Minnewauken (FWM) had an opening round bye and will square off against DP in the first semifinal Saturday (25th).
Dakota Prairie 69 Warwick 52
The Warwick Warriors, seeded fourth, jumped out to a 9-0 lead early in the first quarter but couldn’t make the lead stand as DP (fifth seed) stormed back behind Tyler Loe’s game high 27 points (6-3 pointers). Loe, just a freshman, also hauled in a game high 14 rebounds to record a double-double. Teammate Hunter Sand (sophomore) added 18 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and a game high 4 steals. Jarrett Ressler also hit double figures in the scoring column for the Knights with 11. Warwick was paced by Jerry Lenoirs team high 21 points. Joel Redfox also recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors. Kyle Littleghost added 13 points and tied Sand with a game high 4 steals before leaving the game with an apparent ankle/foot injury in the fourth quartet. Warwick (5-14) will get a bye in the loser out round and will play a region 4 qualifying game on Monday (27th) at 5:30 against the loser of the NR-S/H-WC semifinal game. DP will play FWM at 6:30 on Saturday (25th) in the first semifinal.
NR-S 61 Lakota 43
The second seeded NR-S Rockets were led by senior guard Tyrus Smith’s game high17 points and Jack Schaefer added 13 points and team high 7 rebounds. The Lakota Raiders were paced by Jaden Varnson’s 12 points and Hunter Gibson’s 10. NRS improved to 14-6 on the season and Lakota dropped to 3-17.
HWC 47 Benson County (BC) 45
The third seeded Hornets were pushed to the limit by the sixth seeded BC Wildcats butheld on for the 2 point victory. The Wildcats, who led 32-30 at the end of the third quarter opened up the 4th quarter on a 5-0 run and led 37-30. The Hornets responded with a 17-8 run to close the game and the Wildcats were unable to commit a foul in the final 6 seconds of the game after pulling within 47-45. HWC was paced by Parker Granger’s 15 points and older brother Payton added 10 points and a game high 15 rebounds aiding the Hornets victory. Payton also had a game high 3 blocked shots. BC was led by Keaton Nelson’s (sophomore) game high 18 points and added 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Spencer Olson added 13 points and a team high 7 rebounds for the Wildcats. The Hornets improved to 14-6 on the year and will play NRS in the semifinals on Saturday (25th) at Devils Lake High School. The Wildcats dropped to 6-14 on the year and will play Lakota in a loser out contest in the first game Saturday.
Coverage of Dakota Prairie, NR-S, and H-WC will be on 103.1 FM (The Raven) and newsdakota.com Coverage will start around 6:15 0n Saturday.