Indians stave off Trenton

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MINOT — Collin Delorme was carried off the court after sustaining a knee injury Thursday night and sat on the bench as Four Winds-Minnewaukan closed out a win.

On Friday, Delorme helped the Indians reach the championship game of the Class B state boys basketball tournament.

Austin Longie scored 27 points and Delorme had 16 as Four Winds-Minnewaukan held off a late furious charge by Trenton to claim a 74-69 semifinal win at the Minot State Dome.

“I didn’t expect to play (after the injury),” Delorme said. “There was a lot of pain. I couldn’t get off the floor by myself. Now I’m feeling so excited about this win.”

Said Indians coach Rick Smith: “Collin is a tough kid. I thought he was more scared than anything. … Collin is a gamer. He doesn’t want to be sitting on the bench.”

In the third quarter, Delorme had eight points in a 16-4 run. That helped the Indians break open an 18-point lead.

“We were patient,” Smith said of the run that led to the big lead. “We moved the ball. We pushed it. We were getting easy layups when we kept attacking.”

But Trenton rallied, just as it had in a come-from-behind quarterfinal win against Cavalier.

Four Winds-Minnewaukan still led 66-52 with four minutes left in the game. But Trenton went on a 17-6 run.

When Jade Bentz hit back-to-back 3-pointers, Trenton pulled within 72-69 with 26 seconds left. Four Winds-Minnewaukan iced the win in the final 20 seconds as Hadley Smith and Longie each hit a free throw.

“We make free throws and the game’s over,” said Smith, whose team was 12-of-20 from the line. “We got really lazy on defense at the end and we were impatient on the offensive end. And those guys are shooters.”

Said Delorme: “We always seem to have games like this — big leads down to nail-biters. We’ve had some like this.”

Four Winds-Minnewaukan started to pull away early in the second quarter. The Indians broke a 17-17 tie with back-to-back baskets from Ryan Hill on a screen-and-roll layup and a 15-footer from the right baseline by Smith.

After a Lane Huck free throw pulled Trenton back within 21-18, Four Winds-Minnewaukan scored seven straight, primarily by attacking the basket. Oliver Gourd III converted an offensive rebound to get the spurt going. Longie then scored on a short jump hook in the lane, an offensive-rebound putback and a free throw after he made a steal and was fouled going in for a layup.

Later in the second, a Smith trey from the left of the key gave the Indians their biggest lead of the first half at 31-20. Four Winds-Minnewaukan took a 33-25 lead into halftime.

Four Winds-Minnewauken also received 15 points from Trayvon McKay and 12 from Smith.

Bentz had game highs of 29 points and 11 rebounds, going 4-of-7 on 3-point shots. Michael Rademacher added 17 points.

FWM 15 33 55 74

Trenton 13 25 44 69

FWM: Austin Longie 27, Collin Delorme 16, Trayvon McKay 15, Hadley Smith 12, Ryan Hill 2, Oliver Gourd III 2.

T: Jade Bentz 29, Michael Rademacher 17, Lane Huck 9, Trenten Hove 8, Blaine Durward 4, Austin Wooten 2.

ugby pulls away from Cavalier in consolation semis

MINOT — The second half has not been good to Cavalier.

The Tornadoes saw Rugby pull away in the second half to beat Cavalier 57-42 in the consolation semifinals of the Class B boys state basketball tournament.

Rugby will play Dickinson Trinity at 2 p.m. today in the fifth-place game. Cavalier meets Shiloh Christian for seventh place at noon.

Cavalier was within 37-35 of Rugby late in the third quarter. But the Panthers broke the game open by going on a 14-2 run. On Thursday in the quarterfinal round, Cavalier was up by nine against Trenton late in the third quarter but wound up dropping a 54-52 decision.

“We didn’t play with any energy in the second half,” Cavalier coach Bryce Laxdal said. “They did. That was the difference. We rely on defense and turnovers. We’re not getting a lot of those (forced turnovers) right now.”

Ryan Chrest was the primary scoring threat for the Tornadoes. The junior accounted for half his team’s points, scoring 21 on 8-of-17 shooting. Brock Robbins added 10 points.

Kyle Lovcik and Bradley Heidlebaugh each had a double-double for the Panthers, who led 14-13, 24-21 and 42-35 at the quarter stops.

Lovcik had 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Heidlebaugh chipped in with 17 points and 11 boards. Joshua Michels added 11 points, hitting three treys.

“We’ve had pretty good third quarters all year,” Rugby coach Mike Santjer said. “This was typical. It was pushing the ball. If we can get up and down the floor quickly, we can cause teams problems.”

Rugby 14 24 42 57

Cavalier 13 21 25 42

R: Kyle Lovcik 20, Bradley Heidlebaugh 17, Joshua Michels 11, Kyle Halvorson 4, Christopher Hamilton 4, Matthew Johnson 1.

C: Ryan Chrest 21, Brock Robbins 10, Deane Bjornson 4, Spencer Robbins 4, Jarret Johnson 3.

Tags: high school basketball, north dakota class b state boys tournament, sports, basketball, preps