Saints march to win

• Nate Moody

Press Photo by Chris Aarhus Dickinson High sophomore Nate Moody puts up a shot over a Bismarck St. Mary’s defender during Friday night’s West Region boys basketball game.

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When Dickinson High did heat up in the second half of its game on Friday, Bismarck St. Mary’s got even hotter.

St. Mary’s staved off a furious second-half comeback by the Midgets with a late 12-0 run to escape the Dickinson High School gymnasium with a 74-63 West Region boys basketball victory.

“I’m impressed with the way we attacked the basket,” St. Mary’s coach Joe Mueller said. “We spread the floor well.”

The Saints shot well in the first half thanks to jump-stop penetration that led to many layups. St. Mary’s had a 32-26 lead at halftime, but allowed Dickinson to get within two at 45-43 on sophomore Nate Moody’s basket with 10 minutes, 47 seconds remaining in the game.

But St. Mary’s showed its resiliency with a 12-0 run that started with a pair of jumpers from senior Tanner Harris. The 6-foot-3 forward finished with a game-high 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the floor. He also had nine rebounds. Teammate Justin Klabunde also proved dangerous, adding 21 points.

“Those two guys were really on tonight,” Mueller said.

Harris did his damage while battling a flu that has plagued him since Tuesday when the Saints lost at Minot. In that game and this one, Harris got sick at halftime.

“It’s my senior year, I have no choice,” said Harris, noting how much every minute on the floor means to him.

“I mentally blocked it out.”

Harris had six points during the run that saw the Saints’ lead jump back to double digits. Dickinson made one more run and cut the deficit to eight, but Klabunde drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing on the ensuing play to close it out.

“I have to give (credit) to coach Mueller and his team,” Dickinson coach John Wilson said. “We got outworked tonight. I talked to the kids about where our focus needs to be. There are no gimmies in this league.”

St. Mary’s (5-7 overall, 4-5 West Region) came out of the gate strong in the first half, but the Midgets (6-5, 4-5) rallied to take a 17-11 lead on a field goal by Joe Hanstad. The Saints used a 13-4 run to grab the lead and never trailed thereafter.

The Midgets got another good outing from Hanstad, who entered the game leading Class A in scoring.

He finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Senior Joe Emmerich had 16 points and point guard Jarl Abrahamson added 11 points and five assists.

While Dickinson didn’t have any player foul out, the Midgets struggled with their aggressiveness due to Hanstad, Abrahamson and Nate Moody playing the final 8 minutes with four fouls. Emmerich had three fouls at halftime.

“When the kids get fouls, they get reluctant,” Wilson said. “It does take the aggression out of them. That’s part of being a young team. You have to learn to play with that.”

SM: Tanner Harris 26, Justin Klabunde 21, Ryan Huber 12, Shane Hersh 5, Matt Chuppe 5, Zach Reisenauer 4, Michael Gilchrist 1.

D: Joe Hanstad 20, Joe Emmerich 16, Jarl Abrahamson 11, Nate Moody 9, Grant Dvorak 4, Connor McNeilly 3.

Halftime score: SM 32, D 26. 3-pointers: SM 6 (Klabunde 3, Harris 2, Hersch), D 4 (Emmerich, Hanstad, Moody, Abrahamson). Free throws: SM 18-29, D 9-12. Total fouls: SM 15, D 24. Rebounds: SM 24 (Harris 9), D 35 (Hanstad 11). Assists: SM 7 (three with two), D 13 (Abrahamson 5). Steals: SM 8 (Huber 3), D 4 (Hanstad 2). Blocks: None. Turnovers: SM 8, D 10.

Tags: dickinson, high, midgets, bismarck, stmarys, saints, preps, joe, hanstad, tanner, harris