Hove, Tigers edge Loboes

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MINOT — The perimeter shooting of Trenten Hove kept LaMoure-Litchville-Marion from taking third place at the Class B state tournament on Saturday.

The senior point guard hit four 3-pointers to make up Trenton’s final 12 points including the dagger with 18 seconds for a 43-42 victory.

“That was big; I’m glad he stepped up for us,” said senior Jade Bentz, Trenton’s leading scorer over the course of the season. “He said he had a poor game (Friday). He redeemed himself to me.”

Bentz wasn’t shabby, either, adding 10 points and 11 rebounds for the 24-3 Tigers, who won Region 8 to earn their trip to state. The 6-3 forward said he was eager to prove a point to those believing the Tigers’ region to be one of less competitive parts of the state. Region 8 teams have actually won their first-round game four of the last seven years.

“They always underestimate us,” Bentz said, “and look what we came here and did. We did some damage in the tournament. They never thought we’d take third.”

Bentz said winning two games at state is significant for the community of Trenton, where the high school fields just 65 students.

“It feels really good to bring it back for our fans, our town and our community,” Bentz said. “They really wanted it and so did (L-L-M). We just wanted it more than they did.”

Hove, who finished with a game-high 21, hit his second 3-pointer of the fourth quarter to put the Tigers up 37-31, but the Loboes used a fierce rally to take 42-40 lead on a pair of free throws from Anthony Olson with 1:47 remaining.

However, it was Hove’s final trey that rounded out the final score, as Olson unsuccessfully tried to muscle up a shot from the low block with 5 seconds remaining. Olson tallied 17 in the loss.

“It was a matter of it’s a close game and they hit one more shot than we did,” L-L-M coach Darren Thielges said. “(Hove) hit some shots, give the kid credit. He was comfortable at the top of the key. We were just late closing out sometimes and he hit a shot.”

Trenton 8 16 29 43

LLM 9 18 28 42

T: Trenten Hove 21, Jade Bentz 10, Lane Huck 4, Austin Wooten 3, Michael Rademacher 3, Blaine Durward 2.

LLM: Anthony Olson 17, Jared Meiklejohn 12, Brady Thielges 7, Drew Thielges 4, Kenneth Hodem 2.

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