Bottineau’s Landen Solberg goes up for a layup in front of South Prairie-Max’s Ethan McCall during the Class A Region 3 Tournament quarterfinals on Monday, March 9, at the MSU Dome.
Mike Kraft/MDN
The talent was there. The game plan was there. The opportunity was there.
But for most of the first three quarters, what was missing from the Bottineau boys basketball team’s game was effort.
The Braves recaptured that effort late in the third quarter, forcing turnovers and knocking down shots to rally in the second half for a 62-50 victory over South Prairie-Max in the Class A Region 3 Tournament quarterfinals on Monday, March 9, at the MSU Dome. Bottineau advances to play Dunseith in the semifinal round on Tuesday, March 10, at 7 p.m.
“We didn’t have that effort in the first half,” Bottineau coach Kevin St. Claire said. “We were caught on our heels. I don’t know if it was the jitters or what it was, but they just caught us on our heels. We weren’t moving defensively. We weren’t rotating. We just weren’t ready. I think in that second half, when the kids started putting effort into it and started getting turnovers, started getting steals, started playing our style of basketball, I don’t know why they tried to make me have a heart attack all night long.”
The second-seeded Braves (14-8) trailed by as many as 12 in the first half and trailed 31-24 at halftime. The Royals (8-14) shot 40.9 percent from the field in the opening half David Eberle paced the Royals over the first two quarters, pouring in 16 points. He knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and his first basket of the second quarter sparked a 12-3 run to stake South Prairie-Max out to a 31-20 lead.
“We stuck to our game plan and executed our game plan very well,” South Prairie-Max coach Jade Larson said. “We played a good 24 minutes and I’m just proud of the way they played. A couple shots go our way and a couple other things go our way and it’s a little bit of a different game.”
The seventh-seeded Royals matched the Braves shot for shot throughout the majority of the third quarter, allowing them to maintain their lead. Eberle’s only basket of the second half gave South Prairie-Max a 41-33 lead late in the third before Braves finally found that effort St. Claire was seeking.
Before the horn sounded to signify the end of the third quarter, the Braves had pulled even at 41, ending the frame with seven unanswered points. Connor Guss and Landyn Grant hit 3s and Landen Solberg added a basket during the run.
Mason Bristol and Dawson Guss did most of their damage on the scoreboard in the second half. Bristol scored the first five points of the fourth quarter as the Braves opened the final stanza on a 7-0 run and scored 11 of the first 13 points. A second 3 from Bristol in the fourth gave Bottineau a double-digit advantage at 55-45 with 2:10 left.
“We were trying to attack the basket and find shooters on the outside,” Bristol said. “We were trying to get them to go faster and trapping the ball.”
Guss scored eight of his 12 points in the second half, taking advantage of turnovers that led to easy buckets on the other end.
“When we start playing more pressure and trapping more, they play at the top of the key, so they are able to get out to get layups, and we needed that,” St. Claire said. “There were some shots we probably shouldn’t have shot at times, especially when we were down, but to make that run when they got out and made easy buckets, kind of got the flow going. Once that energy got back, there was no stopping them after that.”
A big reason for the second-half turnaround was the effectiveness of Bottineau’s 2-1-2 full-court press. The Braves forced 11 turnovers in the second half, which led to 10 points. Bottineau held a 15-2 edge in points off turnovers, as the Braves only turned the ball over six times.
“We did the same press the first half and did not do as well as we should effort-wise and the second half we picked it up and that’s what the score showed,” Guss said.
Bottineau’s defensive effort helped limit the Royals to just nine points in the fourth quarter. South Prairie-Max went the first 2:40 without a point.
“We have to learn to take care of the ball in those situations,” Larson said. “Bottineau is a tough team to play against. They’re very lanky and they started getting those deflections that we were maybe getting a little lazy with our fakes and that’s what hurt us.”
The Royals never got closer than seven points of the lead after falling behind by double digits. Bottineau shot 63.6 percent from the field in the fourth quarter.
“We wanted to win for our seniors,” Bristol said. “We knew we had to start shooting better. We had a few big shots that brought our energy up.”
The Braves improved to 3-0 in the regional quarterfinal round as a Class A member. Now, they are looking for their first win in the semifinals, having lost in back-to-back seasons to Des Lacs-Burlington.
Solberg led the Braves with 14 points and was one of four players in double figures. Guss and Emerson Marum each had 12, while Bristol finished with 11.
Jaret Eklie joined Eberle in double figures with 10.
Turtle Mountain 67, Nedrose 51
The top seed in the Class A Region 3 is moving on to the semifinals.
The Turtle Mountain Community High School boys basketball team got 31 points from its bench, led by Wes Davis’ 19 to help the Braves topple Nedrose, 67-51, in the quarterfinal round of the Region 3 Tournament on Monday, March 9, at the MSU Dome.
Turtle Mountain led for all but 2 minutes, 12 seconds, jumping out to an 18-13 lead at the end of the first quarter and extending it to 33-23 at halftime. The Braves led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter.
Along with Davis, the Braves received bench contributions from Tayven DeCoteau and Kruz LaFountain, who added nine and three points, respectively. Nedrose finished with zero points from its bench.
Nedrose’s Brickson Burckhard led all scorers with 21 points. Kaleb Eggen and Derek Heinert had 17 and 11 points, respectively. That trio accounted for all but two of the Cardinals’ points.
The Braves had a 25-11 edge in points off turnovers and a 42-24 advantage in the paint. The Cardinals committed 27 turnovers.
Turtle Mountain plays Rugby in the semifinals on Tuesday, March 10, at 5:30 p.m. at the MSU Dome.
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