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CITY (NewsDakota.com) – The top seeds made it look easy Tuesday night during the first round of the Barnes County Boys Basketball Tournament.
Maple Valley, Milnor and Valley City all won going away in their games, and No. 4 LaMoure-Litchville-Marion led pretty much the entire game in a six-point victory over No. 5 Enderlin.
Thursday shapes up to have a pair of good semifinal games. Top seed Maple Valley plays LaMoure-Litchville-Marion at 6 p.m. in a rematch of a regular season game earlier this year at LaMoure won 56-54. In the nightcap, Valley City takes on Milnor at about 7:30 p.m.
Thursday’s consolation semifinals feature Finley-Sharon/Hope-Page and Enderlin at 3 p.m., and Barnes County North against Griggs County Central at 4:30 p.m. All four games will be broadcast on Q101.1, with pregame coverage starting at 2:30 p.m.
#1 Maple Valley 65, #8 FSHP 36
Jordan Haseleu scored 21 first-half points and James Richman threw down a pair of dunks inside and three-time defending champion Maple Valley rolled in the opening round with a 65-36 victory over Finley-Sharon/Hope-Page.
The Raiders shot 48 percent from the field, and posted three players in double figure scoring. Richman finished with 17 and Brady Behm had 11 in support of Haseleu’s final tally of 24 points. Maple Valley also forced 30 Spartan turnovers while committing just nine of their own. The Raiders improve their record to 3-1 this season.
Austen Archer had 10 points and 17 rebounds to lead FSHOP in the loss. Clay Montag added nine points for the Spartans, who fall to 0-3 on the season.
#4 LaMoure-Litchville-Marion 38, #5 Enderlin 32
LaMoure jumped out to an early lead in this one and kept the lead pretty much between five and nine point the rest of the game as they won a low-scoring contest, 38-32.
Freshman Drew Thielges score 10 first-half points and finished with 12 to lead LaMoure in the victory. Sophomore Anthony Olson added 10 for LaMoure, which improves its record to 4-0 this season.
Neither team shot the ball well. LaMoure finished at 34 percent and Enderlin at 31 percent.
The Eagles were led by Daniel Lindgren with 10 points. Thomas Lindgren added nine in the loss. Enderlin falls to 1-3 on the season.
#2 Milnor 68, #7 Barnes County North 44
Junior guard Briton Bussman scored 18 first-half points and 24 in the game as he led the Milnor Bison to a big 68-44 victory over the BCN Bison.
Bussman made 11 of 15 field goal attempts as part of a deadly Milnor shooting attack. Wyatt Mund added 17 and Landon Mund scored 11 for the Bison, who shot 61 percent for the game and led 35-19 at the half. Milnor improves to 2-2 on the season.
Brad Clemens scored 15 in defeat for BCN. Jacoby Kramlich added 11 points, all of them coming in the first half, including three 3-pointers. BCN’s record now stands at 1-2 this season.
#3 Valley City 66, #6 Griggs County Central 40
With a large hometown crowd behind them, the Hi-Liners rode early momentum to a 20-3 first-quarter lead and a 38-8 lead at the halftime break. Mason Denholm put the capper on a near-perfect first quarter with a 3-pointer from just across half court.
Denholm scored 14 points, all coming in the first half, including three 3-pointers. Chase Carpenter went off for 29 points and 14 rebounds as part of a huge double-double. The victory is Valley City first of the season. They improve to 1-1.
For Griggs County Central, its their first loss of the season as they fall to 2-1. Riley Nelson led the Cougars with 10 points, all coming in the second half. It was a rough first half for GCC, as they shot 14 percent from the field and made just 2 of 11 free throws in the first 16 minutes.