Minot holds on strong to beat West Fargo

FARGO - Early momentum couldn’t propel West Fargo past the best boys basketball team in the state on Thursday in the first round of the North Dakota Class A state tournament.
Minot, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, defeated the No. 4-seeded Packers 76-61 in the Fargodome.
The Magicians were led by junior center Braydon Lund who had a double-double, scoring 25 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.
Dakota Halvorson also aided Minot’s effort, going 7-for-13 and scoring 20 points.
“The zone opened up a lot of opportunities for us,” Lund said. “What we applied the focus on was getting to that middle and executing from there … My teammates got me the ball and I got the opportunity to make those baskets.”
Foul trouble hurt the Packers on the defensive and offensive ends because Melvin Collins, the team’s scoring leader, sat out more than the team is used to. Junior forward Creighton Pfau and senior guard Brady Heisler were also in foul trouble. They both fouled out in the second half.
“You take a kid like Collins and he’s in foul trouble. You take a kid like (Brady) Heisler out, obviously it’s easier to get stops,” said Minot head coach Dean Winczewski.
Collins averaged about 17 points this season but only scored six points for the Packers on Thursday.
“I think credit goes to Minot, very good team, good athletes, they put you in tough positions where you end up fouling,” West Fargo head coach Greg Limke said.
The first half started out very well for the Packers. The team led for most of the half and with the exception of a brief one-point lead for the Magicians, West Fargo was on top the whole half.
Halvorson took away the lead, though, with seven seconds left in the half he hit a close jumper to put Minot up 33-32 at the half.
In the second half, Minot ran away early.
The Magicians started out the second half on an 8-0 run and carried that momentum throughout the second half until there was about five minutes left. West Fargo brought it to within six points with its own 8-0 run, but Minot quickly clamped down on defense and halted the Packers momentum.
HALF: M 33, WF 32
M: Lund 25, Halvorson 20, Bosh 9, Engg 9, Soltis 5, Roberts 4, Bolinske 2, Johnson 2.
WF: B. Heisler 17, Pfau 11, Pistorius 9, Collins 6, Bonnema 6, Idso 6, Holland 4, A. Heisler 2.