Trinity cruises

Dickinson Trinity coach Gregg Grinsteinner was a little wary when he saw his boys basketball team fall behind Heart River by seven points in the first two and a half minutes of its Region 7 tournament opener.

So, the veteran coach called for a quick 30-second time out.

From that point on, the game belonged to the Titans. Trinity quickly regained control and eventually coasted to a 72-34 quarterfinal victory in the opening game of the tournament Monday afternoon at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

"We all got all together and knew we had to get things in shape," said Trinity senior Jordan Selinger, who scored 10 of his team-high 19 points in the first quarter. "We didn't want a relapse of last year."

After a one-year layoff, Trinity (20-2) returns to today's semifinal round, where it meets Beulah at 6 p.m. Beach snapped the Titans' seven-year reign as region champions with an upset in the opening round last season.

"We talked about coming out to play," Grinsteinner said. "After being down 7-0, I think the light finally went on. ... That's why first games are scary to me."

While it seemed like Heart River was going to keep things close early, the Titans had other ideas.

After falling behind 7-0, the Titans went on a 10-0 run that lasted a little more than 2 minutes. The Cougars kept it close for much of the first quarter, but a pair of shots by Selinger, including a transition layup and free throw with 1.4 seconds left in the quarter, put Trinity ahead 18-11.

The Titans kept rolling in the second quarter, turning to Selinger and junior Robbie Morey in transition to keep the lead. Morey scored nine of his 12 points in the first half and helped Trinity pull ahead 42-25 by halftime. He also finished with a game-high eight assists.

"It seemed like they converted every offensive board," Heart River coach Craig Olson said. "They did get some nice transitions. I don't even know how many 'and-one's' they got."

However, it wasn't until Trinity scored 12 unanswered points to open the third quarter that it put the game away. Brooks Thorson and Morey had back-to-back 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to give the Titans a 54-25 advantage.

"Those shots kind of deflated us," Olson said.

Trinity took a 61-31 lead at the end of the third quarter on a 3-pointer by reserve guard Scott Gordon, who finished with 10 points in mop-up duty.

"We picked our spots," Grinsteinner said. "We got the ball to the right person and starting making good decisions."

While his team had a rough time, Heart River senior forward James Duletski was all over the floor trying to keep the Cougars in it.

Duletski capped a solid career that began as a Belfield Bantam with team highs of 21 points and five rebounds for the Cougars, who ended the season at 11-13.

Grinsteinner credited the Cougars with forcing Trinity to play harder in the early going, which he said showed his team what it takes to win in the region tournament.

"Heart River did a nice job coming out with a sense of urgency," Grinsteinner said.

Heart River 11 25 31 34

Trinity 18 42 61 72

HR: James Duletski 21, Jimmy Smith 7, Daniel Mehrer 4, Dalton O'Brien 2.

T: Jordan Selinger 19, Robbie Morey 12, Scott Gordon 10, Austin Fridrich 8, Brooks Thorson 7, Aaron Grinsteinner 6, Tommy Peters 4, Erik Arnold 4, Alex Klug 2.

3-pointers: Morey 3, Gordon 2, Thorson 1, Selinger 1, Smith 1, Duletski 1. Free throws: HR 4-6, T 7-14. Total fouls: HR 17, T 11. Rebounds: HR 28 (two with 5), T 34 (Grinsteinner 7). Assists: HR 6 (Smith 3), T 16 (Morey 8). Steals: HR 7 (Smith 3), T 12 (Thorson 4). Blocks: HR 2 (Duletski), T 6 (two with 2). Turnovers: HR 18, T 13.