Thunder clinch top District 6 seeding

M-P-B was the last boys’ team in District 6 to play a league game, meaning their past two weeks of the season have been like cramming for a final exam.

And those late nights poring over the material have paid off by passing with flying colors.

The Thunder made it 4-for-4 in league games with wins over Kidder County (72-34) in Steele, South Border (57-30) at home in Medina and at Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter (68-54) last Tuesday, with just one more district contest with Strasburg-Zeeland coming this Tuesday night in Strasburg.

Their upcoming game with the winless Clippers is a makeup game from one scheduled in Jamestown on January 18, and if they take care of business there, will be the top seed in the upcoming District 6 Tournament in Napoleon February 25, 26 and 28.

M-P-B went largely unchallenged in the wins over the Wolves and Mustangs.

Rylen Wick and Sawyer Wanzek had double-figure nights in both of those games, with Wick leading the way over South Border with 15 points and adding 12 against Kidder County and Wanzek finishing just behind Josh Moser’s 16-point evening with 14. He would add 11 more against the Mustangs, and Gage Magstadt also had a strong evening from the field with 10 points.

Boxscore and results from the N-G-S game this past Tuesday will be published in the February 21 edition of the Independent.

Leading opposing scorers were Kidder County’s Grant Pfaff (nine points), and Kaleb Thiery of South Border had 10.

The Thunder have two big tests on either side of the district finale with S-Z, both fellow Region 3 matchups. Back on Thursday, M-P-B took on LaMoure/L-M, and they will conclude the regular season Thursday night, February 17, with E-K-M. Both are road games in LaMoure and Edgeley.

District 6 Boys’ Basketball

M-P-B 72, Kidder Co. 34

at Steele

M-P-B 18 25 19 10 72

KC 9 6 11 8 34

M-P-B: Josh Moser 16, Sawyer Wanzek 14, Rylen Wick 12, Gage Magstadt 8, Adam McClellan 6, Chase Ova 5, Kameron Bodvig 3, Jaden Sorenson 3, Mark Thomas 3, Roper Foerderer 2. Totals: 27 FG, 8-11 FT, 9 fouls. Three-pointers: Moser 2, Wanzek 2, Ova, Bodvig, Sorenson, Thomas.

Kidder Co.: Grant Pfaff 9, Dylan Schadegg 7, Jace Larson 6, Luke Rath 5, Collin Zimmerman 5, Blake Braun 2. Totals: 14 FG, 4-7 FT, 10 fouls. Three-pointers: Pfaff, Zimmerman.

M-P-B 57, South Border 30

at Medina

SB 6 8 8 8 30

M-P-B 19 14 13 11 57

M-P-B: Wick 15, Wanzek 11, Magstadt 10, McClellan 8, Moser 8, Thomas 3, Hunter Mitchell 2. Totals: 24 FG, 4-9 FT, 11 fouls. Three-pointers: Magstadt 2, Wanzek, McClellan, Thomas.

South Border: Kaleb Thiery 10, Trevor Schmidt 8, Levi Buchholz 2, Connor Kosiak 2, Colton Martz 2, Parker Salwei 2, Luke Scherbenske 2, Seth Wolf 2. Totals: 10 FG, 4-8 FT, 13 fouls. Three-pointers: None.