Blue Hawks dominate Briercrest, 95-60

• Robbie Morey

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson State junior Robbie Morey, right, puts up a driving hook shot over Briercrest College senior Caleb Klassen, left, as junior Brandon Friesen watches the play on Wednesday night during a nonconference men’s basketball game at Scott Gymnasium.

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Dickinson State wrapped up the nonconference portion of its season in style Wednesday night.

Behind a characteristically balanced scoring night and their best shooting performance of the season, the Blue Hawks claimed a convincing 95-60 men’s basketball victory over Briercrest College of Caronport, Saskatchewan, at Scott Gymnasium. The game was an exhibition for Briercrest but counted toward DSU’s regular-season standings.

“I think the kids just did the little things, for the most part,” DSU head coach Ty Orton said.

DSU shot 40 of 66 (61 percent) from the field and dominated after breaking away from the Clippers. DSU led 51-30 at halftime after outscoring Briercrest 25-10 in final 8 minutes of the first half.

Senior forward Jarek Hansen came off the bench to lead the Blue Hawks with 16 points, making all seven of his shots from the field and both free throws he attempted.

“We started slow, but overall we were just trying to work on our offense, work on our defense, be in driving lanes and just run through our offense thoroughly so everyone gets good looks coming into conference,” Hansen said. “For the most part, we did that. We were doing a good job of running through everything.”

Though it was plain to see, DSU used the game as a tune-up for Saturday night’s Frontier Conference game against Carroll College. The Blue Hawks (8-10) now have a dozen league games remaining on their schedule, finishing the regular season 7-8 against nonconference opponents.

DSU made the most of the opportunity to stretch its depth, going deep into its bench early. Freshman Ryan Sullivan finished with 10 points and five rebounds as DSU’s bench scored 53 points.

Junior forward Phillip Johnson Jr. added 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting and added five rebounds. Robbie Morey had nine points, seven assists and five steals. John Hanstad added nine points and six assists.

“It gave a chance for some of the younger guys to play a little bit,” Orton said. “We got a chance for some of the older guys to work on some of the things they needed to work on. The best thing was a lot of the younger guys got a lot of time.

Every DSU player scored except senior Destry Sterkel, who didn’t attempt a shot despite playing more than 7 minutes.

Junior Brandon Friesen led Briercrest with 22 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and a 10-for-10 performance from the free-throw line. Kenny Boese added 17 points and eight rebounds and Lucas Mannes scored 11 points. The Clippers (9-1 against Canadian teams) shot 23 of 32 from the line.

“What you saw in the first part of the game was exactly the kind of style we run with fast pace, push the ball and put some pressure on defense,” Briercrest head coach Rod Adrian said. “We were looking to run on offense. We were pretty successful at that at the beginning. We ran out of steam a little bit and we weren’t able to answer as best we could at the end of the first half and it kind of got away on us then.”

BRIERCREST COLLEGE (9-1): Caleb Klassen 0-5 4-6 4, Kenny Boese 7-14 3-6 17, Lucas Mannes 2-11 6-8 11, Josiah Cockrill 1-3 0-0 2, Brandon Friesen 6-9 10-10 22, Jesse Clark 0-0 0-0 0, Jared Wicks 0-3 0-0 0, Josh Dalzell 0-2 2-2 2, Fred Fictorie 1-1 0-0 2, Totals 17-48 25-34 58.

DICKINSON STATE (8-10): Johnie Sanders 4-5 0-2 8, Phillip Johnson Jr. 7-10 0-0 14, Ty Ackelson 0-3 2-2 2, Robbie Morey 4-7 0-0 9, John Hanstad 3-4 0-0 9, Anthony Hodges 0-4 2-2 2, Ryan Sullivan 4-5 2-4 10, James Hayden 3-4 0-0 6, Brock Boos 1-6 0-0 3, Isiah Thomas 4-5 0-0 8, Jarek Hansen 7-7 0-0 16, Jeremy Samuelson 1-3 2-2 4, Timmy Benedict 2-3 0-0 4, Destry Sterkel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 40-66 8-12 95.

Halftime: DSU 51-30. 3-pointers: BC 1-11 (Klassen 0-2, Boese 0-1, Mannes 1-5, Wicks 0-2, Dalzell 0-1), DSU 7-18 (Johnson 0-1, Ackelson 0-3, Morey 1-2, Hanstad 3-3, Hodges 0-1, Boos 1-5, Hansen 2-2, Samuelson 0-1). Total fouls: BC 14, DSU 24. Rebounds: BC 30 (Boese 8), DSU 34 (Sullivan 5, Johnson 5). Assists: BC 9 (Klassen 3, Mannes 3), DSU 25 (Morey 7). Steals: BC 5 (Klassen 3), DSU 13 (Morey 5). Blocks: None. Turnovers: BC 26 (Boese 7), DSU 15 (six with 2).

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