Hot Dawgs

Every one of the 3-pointers made by Brock Boos on Monday mattered, but none were more important than his fifth.

The 6-foot-1 junior guard buried his final trey of the night as the clock expired, sending Bowman County to a 54-51 victory over Hazen in quarterfinal action of the Region 7 boys basketball tournament at the Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

"My

teammates got me open and gave me the ball," Boos said.

The

Bulldogs advance to the semifinals where they meet Beach at 7:30 p.m. today. Beach upset Bowman County in the semifinals of the District 13 tournament.

"We know we're going to have to be ready to play," Boos said.

Boos had six of his team's last eight points and finished with a game-high 25 points. He made a pair of free throws to give the Bulldogs a 49-45 lead with 2 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the game.

Two possessions later, Hazen junior Baylee Carr stole the ball on the perimeter and converted on the fast-break layup. Teammate Brent Sorensen stole the second pass off the inbounds and made an easy layup to tie it at 49 at the 2:08 mark.

Bowman County senior Tyson Harding beat his counterparts down the court and sank the layup to regain the lead.

With 57 seconds to go, Carr found a cutting Chad Marshall for the game-tying score and Bowman County (18-5) held the ball in the final minute to set up the game-winner by Boos, who shot it from the right corner on a pass from a penetrating Kenzie Robertson.

"(Boos) is who we wanted to go to," Bowman County coach Gary Ballard said. "Kenzie did a nice job of finding dribble penetration."

Hazen coach Randy Johnson said there wasn't a lot that could be done about the shot.

"He hit a good shot ... a tough shot," Johnson said. "We knew he was capable. He had a fantastic game."

Boos was one of three Bulldogs in double figures. Seniors Tyler Fischer and Alex Wolf had 13 and 10, respectively.

The shot spoiled a thrilling rally by the Bison, who trailed by as much as 12 points early in the third quarter. However, Hazen put together a 20-10 run to cut the margin to two points going into the fourth.

"We did expend a lot of energy," Johnson said. "We wanted to use our full-court press. In the end, our full-court press created turnovers and gave us a chance."

The Bison were led in scoring by two-time all-state selection Chad Marshall, who had 19 points and finished his career with more than 1,500. Carr added 13 points for Hazen, which ended its season with a 14-8 record.

"You hope the kids learned a lot about the necessity of being a team," Johnson said. "Hopefully, those underclassmen have that feeling of disappointment."

Hazen 12 17 37 51

BC 13 27 39 54

H: Chad Marshall 19, Baylee Carr 13, Ryan Miller 6, Joe Westman 5, Clay Brinkman 4, Brent Sorensen 4.

BC: Brock Boos 25, Tyler Fischer 13, Alex Wolf 10, Tyson Harding 4, Kenzie Robertson 2.

3-pointers: H 1 (Westman), BC 5 (Boos 5). Free throws: H 10-15, BC 9-10. Total fouls: H 10, BC 15. Rebounds: H 25 (Marshall 6), BC 31 (Fischer 7, Wolf 7). Assists: H 8 (Carr 3), BC 10 (four with 2). Steals: H 11 (Carr 5), BC 7 (Boos 3). Blocks: H 6 (Brinkman 6), BC 5 (Fischer 3). Turnovers: H 12, BC 15.