From VCSU Athletics
VALLEY CITY, N.D. (VCSUAthletics.com) – Duoth Gach went 10-for-13 from the field and scored 23 points for the Valley City State men’s basketball team in Saturday’s North Star Athletic Association Semifinal game, but it wasn’t enough as Bellevue University shot 71 percent in the second half to earn a 72-66 victory over the Vikings.
The Vikings went on a 13-3 run with five minutes remaining in the game – including nine points from Gach – to erase an 11-point deficit and trail by just a point at 64-63. A missed dunk by Chris Thompson ended the rally and allowed Bellevue to finish the game with eight of the next 11 points.
Valley City State finishes the season with an 18-11 overall record and an 8-6 conference record. Bellevue improves to 19-12 overall and advances to the NSAA Championship game Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Watertown Civic Arena.
“I’m proud of this team and the way they never gave up,” said head coach Ryan Montgomery. “We were waiting to break through, and we just never broke through. It was close but when we had a missed dunk down the stretch, I told them not to look back because we need to stay aggressive.”
VCSU’s defense forced 16 turnovers Saturday that directly led to 15 points. The Vikings also tallied nine steals and 14 assists as team while the Bruins finished with just four steals and seven assists as a team.
Gach was one of three Vikings to score in double figures Saturday. Cayden Rickard added a season-high 13 points while going 3-for-5 on 3-pointers and contributed a pair of steals off the Viking bench. Jalen Addison added 11 points off the bench and dished out a game-high four assists.
Daevonte Munson and Chris Thompson each added six points for VCSU. Munson grabbed a team-high six rebounds while Thompson added three assists.
VCSU shot 46 percent from the field in Saturday’s semifinal (29-63), 31 percent on 3’s (7-22) and 33 percent on free throws (1-3). Bellevue shot 62 percent on field goals (28-45), 40 percent from beyond the arc (4-10) and 60 percent on free throws (12-20). Bellevue held the rebounding advantage 32-25, but VCSU scored 12 second chance points compared to Bellevue’s six second chance points.
Bellevue’s Vinny Belcaster totaled 25 points to lead all scorers Saturday. Paulo Araujo added 14 points and a game-high seven rebounds, while Justin Motley and Taylor Pomeroy scored 12 points each.
With the season coming to an end, Montgomery had a lot of emotion when talking about the four graduating seniors, Connor Entzi, Chris Thompson, Jalen Addison and Kevin Schramm.
“They’ve done so much to put this program where it is. They’ve sacrificed tremendously for this program. They’re going to be forever Vikings and it will be tough to lose them,” said Montgomery. “There’s a lot that not everyone gets to see. Who they are as people is paramount to who they are as basketball players and they’ve been great ambassadors of the university.”