The Heart River boys basketball team is quick. They know it and other teams know it.
The Cougars had a 14-point halftime lead and extended that to a 29-point advantage after three quarters en route to a 66-40 win over Killdeer in the quarterfinals of the 42nd annual Roughrider Tournament on Thursday at the Knights of Columbus Activities Center.
"When we come in the first quarter, we were way too focused on offense and not defense," Heart River head coach Greg Pruitt said. "After that first quarter, we finally settled down."
Heart River's three speedsters are seniors Seth Ewoniuk and Cole Hecker and junior Tyson Kudrna, though the three players average height is 5-foot-9.
Ewoniuk nearly posted a triple double with 16 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. He also had six steals.
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"That's one advantage that we have is we have some quick guards," Pruitt said. "If we don't take care of rebounds, we can't get into transition.
"It all comes down to defense. If we can get defensive stops, we can get into transition."
Teaming with senior forward Riley Obrigewitch in the post for Heart River is 6-4 senior center Isaiah Marschner.
"Isaiah and I worked really well together," Obrigewitch said. "We always have some that can play the post."
Obrigewitch led the team with 18 points, 10 rebounds and four steals, while Marschner had six points, three rebounds and three assists.
"Riley is a great defender and a strong kid," Pruitt said. "Isaiah came out and did some nice things in the second half."
Brock Pittsley, a 6-2 senior center, led Killdeer with 13 points and five rebounds. Calum Blankenship added eight points and seven rebounds.
"We played well to start, then we made a couple bad passes and that turned everything around," Killdeer head coach Wayne Sanders said. "We just need to get some confidence under our belts."
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Killdeer committed 29 turnovers, while Heart River had 22. The Cougars held a slight advantage in rebounds 38-31 and went 28 of 58 (48.3 percent) from the floor. Killdeer shot 17 of 46 (37 percent).
"For second game, we had some pretty good defense," Obrigewitch said. "We played especially well in the second and third quarters."
Heart River plays Trinity in the semifinals of the Roughrider Tournament at 6 p.m. Thursday. Killdeer continues the tournament against New England at 4:30 p.m. in the consolation semifinals.
"We've got to bounce back," Sanders added. "We got to get our offense going, but overall we've playing really good defense this year."
Killdeer 14 20 24 40
HR 19 34 53 66
K: Brock Pittsley 13, Calum Blankenship 8, Cody Johnson 5, Hayes LeMieux 4, Lewis Dobitz 4, Trenton Rohr 2, Christian Kulish 2, Riley Blankenship 2.
HR: Riley Obrigewitch 18, Seth Ewoniuk 16, Brady Olson 12, Cole Hecker 7, Isiah Marschner 6, Tyson Kudrna 3, Zach Miller 2, Kyle Schoch 2.
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3-pointers: K 1 (Pittsley 1), HR 4 (Olson 3, Kudrna 1). Free throws: K 5-13, HR 6-11. Total fouls: K 8, HR 15. Rebounds: K 31 (Blankenship 7), HR 38 (Marschner 10). Assists: K 8 (Rohr 3), HR 17 (Ewoniuk 10). Steals: K 12 (Rohr 3, Blankenship 3), HR 19 (Ewoniuk 6). Blocks: K 2 (Johnson 1, LeMieux 1), HR 2 (Obrigewitch 1, Jordan Wagner 1). Turnovers: K 29, HR 22. Records: K 2-2, HR 2-0.
