Trinity’s momentum goes on the road

• Dylan Fridrich

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson Trinity senior Dylan Fridrich puts up a shot over Mott-Regent senior Nate Fries during the Roughrider Tournament on Dec. 15 at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

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Scoring hasn’t been a problem for the No. 4-ranked Dickinson Trinity boys basketball team this season.

Trinity got a little more help on Tuesday when senior guard Mason Schiff got back into the lineup.

“It was weird getting back into it,” Schiff said. “The first time in, I was pretty tired, but the rest of the times it got better and better.”

Schiff has no complaints coming back to a team with a perfect 9-0 overall record and a 2-0 record in District 14.

“Having all these guys on my team really helps,” he said. “If I’m a little bit behind, they are always pushing me. There are a lot of players to fall back on.”

The Titans have been able to spread the ball around with multiple players scoring in double figures each game. Trinity’s leading scorer last season was Jacob Volk and the junior guard hasn’t disappointed this season.

“I think that’s the key we’ve been talking about,” Trinity head coach Gregg Grinsteinner said. “We knew that coming back a lot of teams were going to a lot of running at Jacob Volk. We’ve been getting a lot of balance, which is forcing teams to guard everybody.”

Volk leads the way with 18.3 points per game and the Titans are scoring 65.1 points per game.

Grinsteinner said he’s been pleased with the performance from his post players. Seniors Dylan Fridrich, Christian Stockert and Austin Gawryluk and juniors Jesse Kubik and Isiah Binstock man the inside for the Titans.

“Those guys have been doing a nice job getting points in the paint for us,” he said. “That’s something that we’ve been hanging our hat on. We are finding out that we can play against both man and zone, that’s been important, because we’ve seen a lot of different defenses this year.”

Despite getting its starting point guard from last season back into the lineup in Schiff, Trinity is without Kubik because of a concussion.

“We’ve had different kids plug in and I think that’s where the depth of our bench comes into play,” Grinsteinner said.

Schiff added to the lineup gives another vocal and physical leader out on the floor.

“He’s a pit bull,” Grinsteinner said. “He knows it’s his last go around and he’s one of those guys that gets after it. He brings automatic energy.”

The Titans have yet to venture out on the road this season. Trinity has built up some confidence and momentum to hit the road after playing well at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

“I think our kids have been accepting the challenge so far,” Grinsteinner said. “We play a lot of good teams. We’ve persevered in situations that have been difficult that we haven’t been able to practice.”

Dickinson High wrestling looks to get back on track

The Dickinson High wrestling team’s final dual before the Christmas break was one most of the team wants to forget.

The Midgets suffered a 63-10 loss to Bismarck High on Tuesday Dec. 20.

“Bismarck High always has a tough team,” Dickinson High head coach Bruce Heppner said. “They’re always a tough in the state. We’ve always got something on our back about Bismarck.”

Dickinson has had almost two weeks of preparation since then, however, because its dual with Belcourt was postponed due to weather in late December.

The excitement level to get back to work has been building since the Christmas break and Heppner said he’s happy to get back out on the mat.

“We just need to get out on the mat, start wrestling and have fun at it,” he said.

“Christmas is over and they’ve learned pretty much everything they are going to learn for the season. Now we’ve just got to critique and get better.”

The Midgets’ dual today at Sidney (Mont.) is at home. Well, kind of.

Dickinson’s senior co-captain Alec Lindsey is from South Heart and that’s where the matches will take place at 6:30 p.m. Freshman Clay Tangen is also from South Heart.

“We like to try to push some stuff out to our co-op schools,” Heppner said. “Use it as a recruiting tool for us. It’s nice to push it that way and get some more support for wrestling.”

Mott-Regent prepares for No. 5 Beulah on Saturday

The Mott-Regent boys basketball team will need to play at the top of its game on Saturday night when No. 5 Beulah comes to town for a 7 p.m. game.

“What we are going to have to focus on is picking them up on defensive transitioning,” Mott-Regent head coach Wayne Heckaman said.

The Wildfire (5-3) claimed a 68-66 win against rival New England on Tuesday and that’s a step in the right direction. Beulah’s lone loss this season is to No. 1-ranked North Star, 74-49, when they were the top-two ranked teams in the state.

“We’ve had some close games,” Heckaman said. “I think that’s just building off our other games in our decision making.”

Mott-Regent has two players in the top 20 in scoring in Region 7. Senior guard Chad Mosbrucker is averaging 14.6 points per game, while senior center Nate Fries averages 13 points.

Beulah’s leading scorers are senior guard Casey Duppong with 16.2 points per game, junior forward Trevor Zacher adds 15.9 and junior forward Jesse Hettich averages 12.9.

Through Mosbrucker and Fries lead the team in scoring, Heckaman said he feels comfortable enough to put eight players on the floor.

“We probably have seven or eight guys that work really well together,” he said. “I have great confidence in all of our guys scoring and defense ability. We have all the keys to puzzle to be a good team, its just keeping on building as a team.”-

Tags: high school basketball, trinity titans, mott-regent wildfire, dickinson midgets, high school wrestling, sports, titans, wildfire, midgets