Oakes, ND (NewsDakota.com) – The Oakes Tornadoes are once again above .500 in District play and back to .500 overall. The Richland Colts battled them all night but the Tornadoes stayed disciplined and beat them 53-44.

The game stated really good once again for the Tornadoes as they held the Colts to only 9 shots in the first quarter preventing any big scoring outburst while they took a 16-9 lead. That lead would disappear in the second quarter however as Richland was able to drop three treys in the quarter and go 6/10 in the quarter while Oakes struggled from the field with a measly 2/11 to allow the Colts a 24-23 lead going into the half.

The shooting for Oakes did not improve on the night however Richland started to get very physical in the 2nd half and got in foul trouble. The Tornados, despite shooting 4/14 from the field in the 3rd went 6/8 from the line to claim a 39-34 lead. The 4th quarter is when it started to boil over as Richland upped their physical play so did Oakes and soon both teams were in the bonus however Richland had 2 players foul out on the night one the first being Nicholas Mjoness and the second being Nicholas Wulfekuhle. Oakes was 14 free throws in the quarter and converted 8 of them while giving up only 7 to Richland and forcing Richland to go 2/7 in the final frame. This defensive effort gave Oakes the 53-44 victory.

The leading all around scorer Eddie Garza for the Tornadoes who went 6/11 from the field and 4/4 from the line for 16 and Nicholas Mjoness who went 6/10 from the field and 3/3 from the line for 16 points.

The Bank North Player of the Game was Trey Skoglund for going 6/10 from the line in the final frame and being solid defensively all night long.

The Tornadoes are now in 4th place in District 1 with a 3-2 District Record and 6-6 overall record.

Next for the Tornadoes is another District 1 opponent in Wyndmere-Lidgerwood on Friday January 26th in Lidgerwood. Game will start around 7:30 with pregame at 7:15.