Trinity starts slow, steadily picks apart Richardton-Taylor for 74-54 win
The Dickinson Trinity boys basketball team were celebrating parents night Tuesday. Richardton-Taylor apparently didn’t get that memo — at least for the first 5 minutes.By: Royal McGregor, The Dickinson Press
- Austin Deichert and Ryder Bohlman
The Dickinson Trinity boys basketball team were celebrating parents night Tuesday.
Richardton-Taylor apparently didn’t get that memo — at least for the first 5 minutes.
Despite the Raiders building up a 7-2 lead, the No. 3-ranked Titans responded with a 33-13 run over the next quarter and a half en route to a 74-54 District 14 win at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.
“Once we got our defensive energy going, I thought we really started to play well,” Trinity head coach Gregg Grinsteinner said. “The kids are starting to understand that it’s getting close to tournament time and every team is playing their best basketball. We can’t show up and play two and a half quarters. We have to play four quarters.”
Trinity’s senior guard Cody Heiser took the place of leading scorer Jacob Volk in the starting lineup. Once Volk got into the floor with 4:18 left in the first quarter, the offense began working to its full potential.
Though Volk didn’t score in the first quarter, he sparked the Titans’ 22-5 second quarter. Volk scored all 10 points in the frame and finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and three assists.
The Titans also got 6-foot-7 senior center Jesse Kubik, who will officially sign a National Letter of Intent to play football at North Dakota State today, and 6-3 senior forward Isiah Binstock going in the second quarter.
The duo combined for 30 points and 18 rebounds. Kubik and Binstock helped the Titans outrebound the Raiders 44-26. They had 20 offensive rebounds.
“Jesse’s a real big kid and when he misses a shot, he’s normally going to go and get it,” said Binstock, who finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds. “It’s a good feeling to have him in the post.”
Trinity (17-1, 4-1 District 14) took a 35-20 lead at halftime and Raiders head coach Rob Bartz’s message at halftime was simple — cut the deficit in half to be in a good position for the fourth quarter.
“We cut the deficit to nine and then I had to put the press on,” Bartz said. “Trinity is too good to press, but you have to play to win.”
Richardton-Taylor junior guard Lane Voltz received the message loud and clear. Voltz buried back-to-back 3-pointers to start the third quarter, including one that he banked off the glass and brought a grin to his face. He leading scorer finished with a game-high 17 points.
“He’s the scorer,” Bartz said. “I have to rein him in a little bit. He attacks, he creates and he just has to look to kick out a little more often.”
Binstock said Grinsteinner’s focus at halftime was to keep up the defensive intensity.
“We had to play tough defense,” Binstock said. “We were struggling on the defensive end. (Grinsteinner) told us, ‘We better get going on the defense end or we’re going to be working later.’”
Despite Richardton-Taylor’s best efforts in the second half, Trinity senior guard Ben Gordon helped spark the bench with 14 points, six assists and four steals.
“I thought our bench kids brought us a lot of energy when our offense got stale,” Grinsteinner said. “That’s something we’ve talked about all year long, is our depth has to pay dividends for us.”
The closest the Raiders (8-8, 1-4 District 14) came in the second half was nine points after Paul Koppinger drained a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. He finished with 11 points.
The Titans host their final regular-season game against Watford City at 7 p.m. on Friday. Trinity then has a week off before it begins District 14 Tournament on Feb. 16 at Beulah High School.
Trinity locked up the No. 2 seed in the district with the win and will receive a first-round bye. The tournament begins Feb. 15.
“It’s got to be now when we start playing our best basketball,” Grinsteinner said.
RT 15 20 37 54
Trinity 13 35 51 74
RT: Lane Voltz 17, Paul Koppinger 11, Chad Gullickson 8, Cade Kuntz 8, Kasey Dressler 5, Johnathan Olson 3, Ty Bloom 2.
T: Jacob Volk 16, Jesse Kubik 16, Ben Gordon 14, Isiah Binstock 14, Jacob Good 6, Alex Binstock 2, Mitch Meyer 2, Cody Heiser 2, Austin Deichert 2.
3-pointers: RT 5 (Koppinger 2, Voltz 2, Olson 1), T 1 (Gordon 1). Free throws: RT 11-15, T 15-21. Total fouls: RT 15, T 13. Rebounds: RT 26 (Gullickson 6), T 44 (I. Binstock 12). Assists: RT 11 (Ryder Bohlman 4, Gullickson 4), T 19 (Gordon 6). Steals: RT 7 (Kuntz 2, Dressler 2), T 12 (Gordon 4). Blocks: RT 1 (Voltz 1), T 3 (Volk 3). Turnovers: RT 15, T 10.
Tags: high school basketball, trinity titans, richardton-taylor raiders, sports, titans, preps, basketball
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