Braves claim Class A championship

Talk about it

FARGO — Mandan will have to clear a little room in the basketball trophy case.

This time: Let’s hear it for the boys.

Braves junior Bryan Kielpinski finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Braves to a 57-46 victory against West Fargo for the school’s first Class A state boys basketball title since 1981 Saturday night at the Fargodome.

“We played them earlier in the year,” said Kielpinski, a 6-foot-7 post who seemed legitimately surprised when he was named the tournament’s MVP after the game. “We kind of knew who their shooters were. We knew who their man in the paint was.

“When we started the game, we jumped on them.”

Mandan, which has won eight of the last 10 Class A girls basketball titles, used a suffocating defense to frustrate the Packers the entire game.

The Braves (24-1) always had a hand in the shooter’s face, and they had the long arms of Kielpinski in the paint.

It was a disastrous first half for West Fargo.

The Packers (17-8) opened the game 1 of 19 from the floor, missing open looks from everywhere on the court.

Lay-ups, 3-pointers, mid-range jump shots: Nothing went in.

And the Braves pounded the ball inside to Kielpinski.

He drilled 5 of 6 first-half shots en route to 10 points.

The Braves built a 21-9 lead with 5:03 on the clock.

West Fargo attempted to shake things up by using several different defenses, but Mandan never got rattled.

It calmly found the holes in the defense and scored.

West Fargo shot 18 percent in the first half.

The Braves held a 25-14 halftime advantage.

“Mandan jumped on people early (throughout the year),” West Fargo coach Greg Limke said. “Their defense was suffocating. When we did get a good look, we were always wondering where the big guy (Kielpinski) was going to come from. We wanted to be the ones to come out right away offensively. That’s a credit to Mandan. They did a great job on defense.”

West Fargo cut Mandan’s lead to 44-40 with 2:08 remaining on a 3-point play by Tyler Gronbeck.

But the Braves remained calm under the pressure, and drilled most of its free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Gronbeck had 14 points to lead the Packers. Seniors Jason Moch and Mike Benson combined for 20 points. They hit 8 of 33 shots combined.

“We tried just about everything offensively and defensively,” Limke said. “We tried the low post, we tried the three, we tried to drive. We thought we were getting some pretty good looks. We just weren’t knocking them down. … It’s the mark of a championship team: They had an answer for everything when we closed on them.”

MANDAN (24-1): Coyle 0 0-0 0, Thilmony 3 4-5 11, Kirchmeier 0 0-0 0, Maurer 4 8-10 16, Flaa 0 0-0 0, T. Miller 1 0-0 2, M. Miller 0 0-0 0, Kist 2 4-4 8, Arneson 1 0-2 3, Friesz 0 0-0 0, Luger 0 0-0 0, Volk 0 0-0 0, Eisenbeis 0 0-0 0, Kielpinski 5 7-10 17. Totals 16-45 23-31 57.

WEST FARGO (17-8): Farkas 3 1-2 7, Flaten 0 0-0 0, Hoy 0 0-0 0, Gronbeck 5 1-1 14, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Benson 4 1-2 11, Mapes 0 0-0 0, Driscoll 1 0-0 3, Moch 4 1-2 9, Williams 0 0-0 0, Nelson 0 0-0 0, Schmidt 0 0-0 0, Neer 0 0-0 0, Berglund 0 0-0 0. Totals 18-68 4-7 46.

Half: MHS 25, WF 14. 3-point goals: Thilmony, Arneson, Gronbeck 3, Benson 2, Driscoll. Total fouls: MHS 8, WF 24. Fouled out: Johnson, Moch. Rebounds: MHS 49 (Kielpinski 11), WF 35 (Moch 10). Assists: MHS 6 (Maurer 2), WF 9 (Farkas 4). Steals: MHS 5 (Thilmony 2, Kist 2). Turnovers: MHS 20, WF 11.

Fifth place

Fargo North 64, Williston 49

Nik Savageau finished with 26 points to lift Fargo North to a 64-49 win against Williston in the fifth-place game of the North Dakota Class A boys basketball tournament Saturday at the Fargodome.

Savageau was 10 of 19 from the field, and drilled 4 of 9 3-pointers.

Tyler Eiken had 19 to lead the Coyotes.

The Forum and The Dickinson Press are both owned by Forum Communications Co.

Tags: preps, sports, class, a, mandan, boys