Skyhawks defeat Tigers in overtime

BISMARCK - In its first trip to the North Dakota Class B state boys basketball tournament in nearly two decades, New England hasn’t lacked time on the floor at the Bismarck Event Center.
However, the Tigers followed one heartbreaking double-overtime loss with another overtime defeat.
Shiloh Christian dropped 11 3-pointers - including nine after halftime - to defeat New England 61-58 in overtime Friday during the consolation semifinals.
“It has been tough, but we just have to find a way to win one tomorrow,” New England senior forward Daniel Prince said.
Luck hasn’t favored the Tigers (22-4).
Two failed inbounds passes and two missed free throws spelled doom for New England during the quarterfinals against LaMoure-Litchville-Marion on Thursday.
An inadvertent whistle cost New England a breakaway attempt during overtime on Friday.
“We couldn’t catch a break,” New England head coach Luke Powers said. “An inadvertent whistle in overtime that took away a layup for us is terrible by the officiating crew. That’s how it’s going for us right now.”
At halftime, the Tigers held a 24-18 lead. New England maintained its slight advantage 38-34 after the third quarter.
The Skyhawks (20-7) didn’t gain the lead until the fourth quarter after Andrew Hartman drained back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 40-38 lead. The biggest lead for either team in the final 6 minutes of regulation was six points, 49-43, by Shiloh. The Tigers and Skyhawks were tied at 54 to end regulation.
In overtime, Seth Losos hit the game-winning 3-pointers with 50 seconds left. Losos finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Hartman posted a team-high 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. Nick Pfaff supplied 11 points.
“At the end of the first half, we must have missed 12 shots in a row,” Shiloh head coach Mike Dwyer said. “We couldn’t find the bucket for nothing, but in the second half we got a little more comfortable. We started to hit some shots and that always helps the confidence. It was a big deal to hit a few shots in the second half.”
New England shot 25 of 59 (42 percent) from the field, while Shiloh ended 20 of 59 (34 percent). The Tigers controlled the boards 47-29, but the Skyhawks committed four fewer turnovers.
Prince had a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds. Cody Holt and John Urlacher each had 10 points for New England. Ty Nordby ended with 12 rebounds, five points and two blocks. Brady Bender finished with eight points, five assists and four rebounds.
Despite playing two overtimes Thursday, which amounts to a full regulation quarter, Powers felt the team came out ready. The Tigers grabbed a 15-10 lead after the first quarter and led by as many as eight in the opening 16 minutes.
“What happened (Thursday) night isn’t going to define them as seniors in their career or this team overall,” Powers said. “What’s going to define them is how they respond to it and come out and play today. We could have come out and laid an egg and not played hard. They went out there and left it on the floor. They left a lot of it on the floor (Thursday) night. They dug down and did a good job.”
The Tigers play May-Port CG in the seventh-place game at noon today, while Shiloh takes on Parshall for the consolation championship at1:45 p.m.
“We really wanted to come in here and hopefully get into that consolation championship, but we came up a little short,” Prince said.
NE 15 24 38 54 58
SC 10 18 34 54 61
NE: Daniel Prince 22, Cody Holt 10, John Urlacher 10, Brady Bender 8, Ty Nordby 5, Mason Stang 2, Christian Kilwein 1.
SC: Andrew Hartman 17, Seth Losos 12, Nick Pfaff 11, Zac Martin 9, Blake Emmel 8, Chris Oswald 2, Justin Koivula 2.
3-pointers: NE 3 (Prince 2, Bender 1), SC 11 (Losos 3, Pfaff 3, Emmel 2, Hartman 2). Free throws: NE 5-9, SC 10-14. Total fouls: NE 16, SC 9. Rebounds: NE 47 (Nordby 12), SC 29 (Losos 10). Assists: NE 7 (Bender 5), SC 8 (Hartman). Steals: NE 2 (Stang 1, Nordby 1), SC 6 (Martin 3). Blocks: NE 5 (Nordby 2), SC 0. Turnovers: NE 12, SC 8. Records: NE 22-4, SC 20-7.