Titans play big: Titans lean on post players to beat Bulldogs for 4th Roughrider title in 5 years

The Dickinson Trinity boys basketball team is much more than all-state guard Jacob Volk and a bunch of other seniors.

Bowman County learned that Saturday night in the championship game of the 42nd annual Roughrider Tournament at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

With Volk in foul trouble in the first half, the Titans turned to their big men, seniors Jesse Kubik and Isiah Binstock.

They didn't disappoint as Kubik had 14 points and nine rebounds and Binstock added 12 points and six rebounds to help the No. 4-ranked Titans beat the Bulldogs 62-42 for their second straight Roughrider title and the team's fourth in five years.

"If we can establish our inside game, it makes us that much better," Trinity head coach Gregg Grinsteinner said.

Volk picked up his third foul with just over 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter and the Bulldogs leading 16-13.

Relying on Kubik to get rebounds and with the ball moving through Binstock on offense, the Titans used an 11-0 run over the final 2:48 of the second quarter to take a 26-20 halftime lead.

"Down the road me and Isiah, we're definitely going to show our colors," said Kubik, who is being recruited by college football teams as an offensive lineman and spent several minutes chatting with North Dakota State offensive coordinator Brent Vigen after the game. "Not a lot of teams have our size. Tonight in the second half we showed that and hopefully we can continue that."

In the third quarter, Volk scored eight straight points during a 15-2 run. Senior Mitch Meyer capped it with a 3-pointer to put the Titans ahead 43-27.

Volk scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half and grabbed five rebounds. Ben Gordon added 11 points and Meyer had nine.

The Titans (5-0) kept working in the fourth as Kubik and Binstock each hit a pair of shots in the post to help answer any Bowman County's slight threats at a comeback.

Senior Michael Palczewski hit three 3-pointers to lead the Bulldogs (3-2) with 11 points. Senior Colter Braaten added eight points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

"We knew they had the big guys and we knew they were a talented team," Bowman County head coach Steve Shahan said. "We stuck with them for a while. We hit a dry spell on offense and that was about the time they kept pounding the ball into Kubik."

Trinity shot 17 of 27 (63 percent) from the field in the second half, a vast improvement over their 11 of 28 (39.3 percent) shooting percentage in the first half.

"I thought we did a nice job of shot selection, especially in the second half," said Grinsteinner, who has led Trinity to 10 Roughrider championships since 1997. "We executed extremely well in the second half."

Bowman County won the KDIX free-throw trophy, shooting 63.1 percent for the tournament.

Shahan said he wasn't at all displeased with his team's finish and hopes it can continue to improve as the regular season begins to heat up in January and into February.

"We knew we weren't going to be there now," he said "We want to be there two months from now."

BC 8 20 28 42

Trinity 10 26 35 62

BC: Michael Palczewski 11, Colter Braaten 8, Brandon Orcutt 6, Chance Moran 6, Brandon Fischer 5, Chandler Braaten 4, Tanner Fischer 2.

T: Jesse Kubik 14, Isiah Binstock 12, Jacob Volk 12, Ben Gordon 11, Mitch Meyer 9, Austin Deichert 4.

3-pointers: BC 4 (Palczewski 3, B. Fischer 1), T 2 (Meyer, Gordon). Free throws: BC 2-4, T 4-9. Total fouls: BC 11, T 12. Rebounds: BC 26 (Co. Braaten 6), T 37 (Kubik 9). Assists: BC 9 (Co. Braaten 4), T 18 (Gordon 4). Steals: BC 5 (T. Fischer, Co. Braaten 2). Blocks: BC 2 (B. Fischer, Ch. Braaten), T 6 (Kubik 2, I. Binstock 2). Turnovers: BC 22, T 17.

Third place

Heart River 57, Richardton-Taylor 47

Isaiah Marschner had 13 points and 10 rebounds as Heart River held off a hard-charging Raiders team in the third-place game.

Seth Ewoniuk added 14 points, six steals and three assists for the Cougars (3-1).

Richardton-Taylor's Lane Voltz had 22 points and six rebounds as he went 4 of 9 from 3-point range, including a three-quarter court shot at the end of the third quarter to make it a 40-37 game. Chad Gullickson added 13 points and six rebounds for the Raiders (3-3).

RT 14 20 37 47

HR 8 27 40 57

RT: Lane Voltz 22, Chad Gullickson 13, Cade Kuntz 4, Kasey Dressler 4, Paul Koppinger 3, Ryder Bohlman 1.

HR: Seth Ewoniuk 14, Isaiah Marschner 13, Tyson Kudrna 9, Riley Obrigewitch 8, Jordan Wagner 7, Cole Hecker 3, Kyle Schoch 3.

3-pointers: RT 4 (Voltz 4), HR 3 (Ewoniuk 2, Schoch 1). Free throws: RT 11-19, HR 14-25. Total fouls: RT 24, HR 18. Fouled out: Kuntz, Obrigewitch. Rebounds: RT 28 (Voltz 6, Gullickson 6), HR 35 (Marschner 10). Assists: RT 10 (Koppinger 5), HR 9 (Hecker 4). Steals: RT 3 (Dressler 2), HR 11 (Ewoniuk 6). Blocks: RT 1 (Bohlman), HR 3 (Marschner 2). Turnovers: RT 16, HR 12.

Fifth place

Mott-Regent 67, New England 52

Taylor Zentner had 27 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals as the Wildfire used a huge fourth quarter to beat New England in a matchup of District 13 rivals in the fifth-place game.

Mott-Regent outscored New England 31-9 in the fourth.

Daniel Prince led the Tigers (3-3) with 22 points and nine rebounds. Levi Hollinger added 14 points and seven rebounds and Austin Fitterer scored 10 points while doling out eight assists.

Tyler Zentner had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildfire (4-2) while Jacob Greff added 13 points.

MR 12 24 36 67

NE 18 32 43 52

MR: Taylor Zentner 25, Jacob Greff 13, Tyler Zentner 13, Logan Haberstroh 6, Jonah Honeyman 6, Austin Kautzman 4.

NE: Daniel Prince 22, Levi Hollinger 14, Austin Fitterer 10, Brady Bender 3, Lane Herberholz 2, Alex Nielsen 1.

3-pointers: MR 6 (Ta. Zentner 4, Greff 1, Kautzman 1), NE 5 (Hollinger 2, Bender 1, Fitterer 1, Prince 1.) Free throws: MR 15-19, NE 7-15. Total fouls: MR 16, NE 18. Fouled out: Ty. Zentner, Fitterer. Rebounds: MR 42 (Ty. Zentner 10), NE 30 (Prince 9). Assists: MR 16 (Ta. Zentner 5), NE 10 (Fitterer 8). Steals: MR 10 (Ta. Zentner 4), NE 7 (Fitterer 3). Blocks: MR 2 (Ty. Zentner, Honeyman), NE 0. Turnovers: MR 13, NE 19.

Seventh place

Killdeer 68, Glen Ullin-Hebron 57

Trenton Rohr had 28 points and six steals while Calum Blankenship finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds and five steals to lead the Cowboys (2-4) to a win in the seventh-place game.

Jaden Schmidt had 13 points, seven rebounds, four steals and four assists to pace the Bearcats (1-4). Mitchell Bettenhausen added 12 points and five steals. Glen Ullin-Hebron committed 34 turnovers.

GUH 19 27 40 57

Killdeer 14 28 51 68

GUH: Jaden Schmidt 13, Mitchell Bettenhausen 12, Steve Weidmer 9, Adam Gietzen 8, John Duppong 7, Chase Berger 6, Chance Glass 2.

K: Trenton Rohr 28, Calum Blankenship 22, Brock Pittsley 6, Christian Kulish 3, Brady Roshau 2, Hayes LeMieux 2, Cody Johnson 2, Lewis Dobitz 2, Jon Mosset 1.

3-pointers: GUH 5 (Bettenhausen 2, Schmidt 2, Weidmer 1), K 1 (Kulish).

Free throws: GUH 6-12, K 5-15. Total fouls: GUH 17, K 13. Fouled out: Berger. Technical fouls: Pittsley. Rebounds: GUH 39 (Duppong 7, Schmidt 7), K 47 (Blankenship 14). Assists: GUH 18 (Weidmer 4, Schmidt 4), K 19 (Blankenship 4). Steals: GUH 20 (Bettenhausen 5), K 20 (Rohr 6). Blocks: GUH 2 (Bettenhausen, Gietzen), K 4 (Rohr 2). Turnovers: GUH 34, K 27.

(b)All-Roughrider Tournament team(/b)

Isiah Binstock, Dickinson Trinity; Calum Blankenship, Killdeer; Colter Braaten, Bowman County; Seth Ewoniuk, Heart River; Jesse Kubik, Dickinson Trinity; Michael Palczewski, Bowman County; Daniel Prince, New England; Jacob Volk, Dickinson Trinity; Lane Voltz, Richardton-Taylor; Taylor Zentner, Mott-Regent.