BOWMAN -- Brock Boos knew the Bowman County boys basketball team needed a speedy start if it wanted to compete with top-seeded Mott-Regent on Saturday night.
The Bulldogs' 6-foot sophomore took his own thoughts to heart, scoring the first eight points of the game and getting Bowman County out to a lead they held onto for the entire District 13 tournament semifinal game.
The Wildfire cut the lead to one in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, but Boos made four free throws in the final two minutes to help the bulldogs seal a 41-38 victory at Solberg Gymnasium.
"We just had to come out strong to beat them," said Boos, who had 14 points and six rebounds. "They had all that hype that they were going to win."
Mott-Regent didn't lose a district game in the regular season and had a bye on the first day of the tournament.
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Bowman County, meanwhile, didn't lose a step from Friday night's quarterfinal victory over Heart River. The Bulldogs led 12-6 at the end of the first quarter and 22-16 at halftime.
"(Boos) getting out with a couple good baskets right away, that was huge for us," Bulldogs coach Gary Ballard said.
The Bulldogs will face second-seeded Hettinger in the District 13 championship game at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Mott-Regent plays Scranton in a regional-qualifier and loser-out game at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.
"It's fun to be there," Ballard said. "... We've got to get refocused after we celebrate a little bit."
Bowman County kept Mott-Regent out of an offensive groove by holding the ball on defense and giving up just 12 turnovers.
The Wildfire couldn't capitalize when the Bulldogs gave them chances either. Mott-Regent shot 27 percent from the field.
"I guess the nerves got the best of us," Mott-Regent coach John Butterfield said. "That's the only thing it could be. We had good shooters shoot bad."
The one Wildfire player who didn't struggle from the field was senior Jamie Ottmar.
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The 5-foot-11 guard came off the bench and made an instant impact.
With the Bulldogs leading 32-22 with 4:00 left, Jay Grosz made a fast-break layup off a steal. Ottmar stole the inbounds pass and buried a fade-away 3-pointer from the left corner to cut Bowman County's lead to five with 3:49 left.
On the Wildfire's next possession 26 seconds later, Ottmar hit another 3 from the same spot to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 2.
"I told my teammates I was feeling it," said Ottmar, who was 4 of 6 from beyond the 3-point line and led the Wildfire with 14 points. "I was just waiting for Butterfield to give me a chance and I took advantage of it."
Bulldogs junior center Tyler Fischer made a jumper from the right side with 3:00 left but Ottmar quickly returned the favor, making his third 3-pointer in less than two minutes at the 2:51 mark to make it 34-33.
The Wildfire would get within one again, but missed 3-pointers, inside jumpers and free throws down the stretch.
"One more would have been nice," Ottmar said.
Bowman County 41, Mott-Regent 38
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BC 12 22 28 41
MR 6 16 22 38
BC: Brock Boos 14, Tyler Fischer 12, Alex Wolf 8, Logan Cox 3, Jake Mason 2, Kenzie Robertson 2.
MR: Jamie Ottmar 14, Elliot Kirschmann 6, Jay Grosz 6, Devan Laufer 5, Brade Schweitzer 3, Brock Gion 2, Nick Kautzman 2.
3-pointers: Boos, Ottmar 4, Laufer. Free throws: BC 10-18, M-R 1-8. Total fouls: BC 14, MR 18. Rebounds: BC 32 (Wolf 10), M-R 38 (Schweitzer 12). Assists: BC 12 (Cox 5), MR 11 (Schweitzer 6). Steals: BC 5 (Robertson 2, Cox 2), MR 9 (Laufer 4). Turnovers: BC 12, MR 11.
Hettinger 52, Beach 36
Things started slow in the second semifinal game.
But once Hettinger got going, it didn't look back.
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Alex Willoughby scored 18 points and had eight rebounds to lead three Black Devils in double figures as they defeated Beach in the semifinals.
"I told him to just keep shooting," Hettinger coach Adam Hill said. "He got after it tonight."
Hill said the win was owed mostly to defense.
"We kind of hung our hats on defense all year long," Hill said.
The Black Devils had 28 defensive rebounds and limited the Buccaneers' big guns.
Beach senior center Nate Zachmann had eight points and nine rebounds while junior Jake Tescher, the team's leading scorer, was limited to five points and six rebounds.
"We knew coming into the night we had to concentrate on Zachmann," Hill said. "Tescher really hurts us when we play them so we put Ryan Fulker on him and told him to try and limit him the best you can."
Jerad Jacobson had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Black Devils. Drew Nash added 15 points and three rebounds.
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The Buccaneers shot just 30 percent from the field and were 4 of 25 in the first half.
Hettinger led 21-9 at halftime.
Justin Maus led Beach with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Hettinger 52, Beach 36
Hettinger 8 21 37 52
Beach 5 9 23 36
H: Alex Willoughby 18, Drew Nash 15, Jerad Jacobson 13, Lance Johnson 5, Ryan Fulker 1.
B: Justin Maus 12, Nathan Zachmann 8, Derek Weinreis 7, Jake Tescher 5, Austin Bagley 2, Mark Goldberg 2.
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3-pointers: Willoughby 3, Jacobson, Maus 2, Tescher, Weinreis. Free throws: H 14-17, B 2-6. Total fouls: H 11, B 19. Fouled out: Weinreis. Rebounds: H 33 (Willoughby, Jacobson 8), B 30 (Zachmann 9). Assists: H 12 (Fulker, Jacobson 4), B 12 (Zachmann 4). Steals: H 8 (Fulker, Jacobson 3), B 9 (Maus, Zachmann 3). Turnovers: H 14, B 14.
Scranton 66, New England 54
Scranton fell behind early, but New England couldn't maintain its momentum.
After watching the Tigers build a 9-2 lead midway through the first quarter, Scranton went on a 26-5 run to end the half.
New England never recovered, committing 16 of their 23 turnovers in the first half and falling out of the tournament.
Miners senior Shawn Burns scored 13 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to help seal the win. Burns added nine rebounds and four assists.
Blake Honeyman scored 17 points and had seven rebounds for Scranton, which improved to 10-11 and will face top-seeded Mott-Regent in Monday's regional-qualifier game.
Daniel Binstock scored a team-high 20 points for the Tigers, who ended their season at 3-18. Cory Wilhelm added 12 points and nine rebounds before leaving the game late in the fourth quarter with a head injury.
Scranton 66, New England 54
NE 9 12 29 54
Scranton 11 28 42 66
NE: Danial Binstock 20, Cory Wilhelm 12, Clarence Binstock 9, Shawn Kuntz 6, Trevor Buzalsky 5, Avery Krebs 2.
S: Shawn Burns 21, Blake Honeyman 17, Casey Kromarek 7, Brian Hagen 6, Travis Teske 5, Joe Symanowski 4, Colten Larson 4, Cody Ruggles 2.
3-pointers: Danial Binstock 4, Clarence Binstock, Wilhelm, Burns 5, Kromarek. Free throws: NE 12-16, S 12-18. Total fouls: NE 17, S 15. Rebounds: NE 38 (Wilhelm 9), S 43 (Burns 9). Assists: NE 12 (Wilhelm 4), S 19 (Burns 4, Kromarek 4). Steals: NE 9 (Buzalsky 3), S 11 (Cole Miller 3). Turnovers: NE 23, S 18.
