Titans use inside presence to defeat Heart River 72-54 in Region 7 semifinals
Inside out. It’s the game plan Dickinson Trinity head boys basketball coach Gregg Grinsteinner has been preaching to his team all season. In order for the Titans to be successful, the coach feels they must go to their post players early to open up the perimeter game.By: Dustin Monke, The Dickinson Press
- Jacob Volk
Inside out.
It’s the game plan Dickinson Trinity head boys basketball coach Gregg Grinsteinner has been preaching to his team all season. In order for the Titans to be successful, the coach feels they must go to their post players early to open up the perimeter game.
Trinity seniors Isiah Binstock and Jesse Kubik did exactly that Tuesday night in the Region 7 Tournament semifinals.
Binstock had 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds as No. 3-ranked Trinity rolled to a 72-54 victory over Heart River at Knights of Columbus Activities Center. The Titans move on to face No. 1-ranked Beulah at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the championship game.
“We really got the ball inside finally,” Binstock said with a smile. “We stopped shooting three balls, took it inside and took it to the hole.”
The Titans got going early and never looked back. Binstock and Kubik combined for 10 points as Trinity built a 16-5 lead by the end of the first quarter.
When Trinity’s guards began finding driving lanes in the second quarter, it spelled doom for the Cougars.
Trinity led 24-7 just 2 minutes into the second quarter following consecutive drives to the basket from senior guards Jacob Good, Jacob Volk and Alex Binstock.
“When we start playing inside out, good things happen,” Grinsteinner said.
From that point on, Heart River played the Titans (21-2) almost even. But it was too late, Cougars head coach Greg Pruitt said.
“You know, you can’t give a great team like that the first quarter they did,” Pruitt said. “They’re disciplined. They execute very well down the stretch. We started out a little bit slow, but the kids battled through the rest of the game.”
To make matters worse for the Cougars (18-5), Trinity played one of its most offensively balanced games of the season.
Volk had 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Alex Binstock added 10 points and four rebounds and junior Austin Deichert came off the bench to score 10 points. Kubik scored all 11 of his points in the first half.
“Isiah got us going and I thought just the balance we have — five guys in double figures — we were hard to guard tonight,” Grinsteinner said. “We did a lot of nice things. Even when we got in foul problems, I thought our bench did a nice job. It came down to taking care of the ball. We did a nice job on the glass and I thought, for the most part, defended a very good offensive team pretty well.”
The Titans held a 43-24 advantage on the boards and shot 29 of 57 (51 percent) from the field.
Heart River, which will face Mott-Regent at 6 p.m. Thursday in the third-place game, leaned heavily on senior Isaiah Marschner as it futility tried to rally. The 6-foot-4 center had game highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds.
“With Seth (Ewoniuk) not feeling good tonight, Isaiah really stepped up his inside game,” Pruitt said. “It’s just that we didn’t have enough power to keep them off the boards.”
Ewoniuk, Heart River’s 5-8 senior point guard, nearly missed the game after being hospitalized just 90 minutes before the game because of flu-like symptoms. Pruitt said he took two intravenous fluid drips on Tuesday.
Ewoniuk had eight points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals in 24½ minutes, all of which are below his season averages.
“You know, words can’t describe how I feel about Seth tonight,” Pruitt said. “It’s his senior year. … He’s a kid, it’s hard to keep him off the court. We’re just very thankful we have a kid in our program like Seth. It says a lot about him. We’re just very proud of him and his overall effort.”
Trinity 16 41 55 72
HR 5 24 37 54
T: Isiah Binstock 18, Jacob Volk 13, Jesse Kubik 11, Alex Binstock 10, Austin Deichert 10, Jacob Good 6, Ben Gordon 2, Mitch Meyer 2.
HR: Isaiah Marschner 19, Tyson Kudrna 13, Seth Ewoniuk 8, Brady Olson 6, Cole Hecker 3, Jordan Wanger 3, Riley Obrigewitch 2.
3-pointers: T 2 (Kubik 1, Volk 1), HR 14 (Kudrna 3, Olson 1). Free throws: T 12-18, HR 14-21. Total fouls: T 18, HR 16. Rebounds: T 43 (I. Binstock 9), HR 2 (Marschner 10). Assists: T 18 (Gordon 6), HR 10 (Hecker 4). Steals: T 6 (I. Binstock 2), HR 7 (Ewoniuk 3). Blocks: T 4 (Volk 3), HR 1 (Marschner 1). Turnovers: T 11, HR 9.
Tags: trinity titans, high school basketball, region 7, heart river cougars, south heart, sports, updates, trinity, titans, basketball, preps, belfield
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