HWC takes 2nd to top-rated FW-M

Harvey-Wells County put up a valiant effort for 24 minutes, but couldn’t keep pace with the top-ranked team in North Dakota, falling in the championship game of the District 7 Tournament to Four Winds-Minnewaukan, 69-43.

HWC had a nice tournament with a dominating win over Benson County and a hard fought victory over Warwick in the semifinals before bowing out to the Indians in the final.

Following the tournament, Tate Grossman was named to the District 7 All-Tournament team, and Grossman, along with Madden Thorson, Alex Erickson and Gabe Allmaras, were named to the All-District team. The All-District team was based on their play during the season in District 7.

HWC 72, Benson Co. 32

Harvey-Wells County scored the final 19 points of the second quarter, and cruised to a 72-32 win in the opening round of the District 7 Boys Basketball Tournament at the Devils Lake Sports Center on Friday, February 25.

HWC opened the game with a 10-2 advantage, seeing four different players find the scoring column. The Hornet defense was stingy throughout, but held the Wildcats to just six points as they led 21-6 after one.

Macyn Olson, Paxton Neppl and Lane Benson scored early for Benson County in the second, as they trailed, 26-10. The Hornets closed out the second half scoring the final 19 points, with Gabe Allmaras and Alex Erickson knocking down threes and Tate Grossman securing a two-and-one and scoring seven in the quarter, helping HWC jump to a 45-12 halftime lead.

Seven Hornets scored in the third quarter to help HWC increase the lead to 63-24 after three. Olson kept the Hornets honest with two 3-pointers and seven points in the third for Benson County.

HWC’s and Benson County’s second strings played most of the fourth quarter with the Hornets having their biggest lead of the night at 72-24. Benson County would get four each from Gunnar Larson and Colton Green in the final quarter.

Grossman led all players with 20 points, while Allmaras and Erickson were also in doubles with 13 and 12, respectively. The Wildcats were led by Olson’s 12 points.

HWC 65, Warwick 52

In a surprise semi-final matchup in the tournament on Saturday, February 26, the Hornets faced off against the Warwick Warriors, who dealt a 54-52 loss to the #3- seeded Lakota Raiders in their opening round matchup.

The Hornets started strong and withstood a furious third quarter rally to claim the 13-point victory and move on to the championship game against FW-M.

HWC started with a quick 9-0 run with Madden Thorson, Allmaras and Isaac Friese putting in field goals and Erickson knocking down a 3-pointer. Warwick closed the gap to five with a Dwight Hunt three, but the Hornets kept a six-point lead after one.

Grossman scored the first four points of the second to increase the lead to 10, but five in a row pulled the Warriors back to within 26-21. HWC scored five of the final seven points for the 36-25 halftime lead.

The Warriors’ Mark Fassett, who had foul problems in the first half, started the fire for the Warriors in the second half, as the junior knocked down a three and a deuce and spurred a 7-0 start to pull Warwick back to within four at 36-32. HWC responded with five, including a three from Allmaras to push the lead back to nine. Hunt scored seven straight for the Warriors to cut the lead to two, and Fassett connected on another three, but baskets from Erickson and Grossman helped HWC lead 45-42 after three.

A basket from Dorvan McKay Jr. to start the fourth cut the lead to one, but HWC responded with five in a row including a two-and-one from Grossman. Two fast break layups from Jason Lenoir cut the lead to 50-48 but a three from Allmaras spearheaded a 15-2 finish from the Hornets as they sealed the win.

Erickson and Allmaras were the leading scorers for HWC with 20 and 19 respectively. Grossman added 10 for HWC.

Warwick was led by freshman Hunt with 17, while Lenior scored 12 and Fassett ended with 10.

With the win, HWC improved to 18-3, while Warwick dropped to 9-11.

FW-M 69, HWC 43

The Hornets kept the game close for a long time, but the Indians had a lot of gas left in the tank as they turned a nine-point lead with eight minutes to play into a 26-point victory with a 22-4 fourth quarter effort in the District 7 Championship game at the Devils Lake Sports Center on Monday, February 28.

A quick start for the Indians resulted in a 7-0 lead. HWC had a six point rally of their own with baskets from Erickson, Friese and Grossman to pull within 11-8. Dalen Leftbear and Jayden Yankton each knocked down field goals to end the first quarter with FW-M in the driver’s seat, 15-8.

Early in the second, HWC’s Erickson had a two-and-one, and the Hornets scored six of eight points to cut the lead to 19-14. An explosive 7-0 run coming out of an Indian timeout put FW-M back in control, 26-14, and the Indians held on to the 12- point lead at halftime, 32-20.

Friese scored seven and Grossman nailed a 3-pointer as the Hornets came to life, pulling to within eight at 40-32 midway through the quarter. The two teams played even over the rest of the third, with Keaton Keller and Erickson scoring the final four points making the score after three 47-39.

The break between the third and fourth quarter seemed to have put FW-M into another gear, as the Indians opened the fourth scoring 10 of the first 12 points. A basket from Madden Thorson stopped the run, but another 10-point run to end the game gave the Indians a huge 22-4 fourth quarter advantage and a 69-43 win.

Leading the way for the Indians was Yankton with 22 points, including 12 in the fourth alone. The rest of the FW-M starters were all in double figures, with Deng Deng scoring 13, Leftbear 12, Kelson Keja 11 and Jacolby Pearson 10. The Hornets were led by Thorson and Friese with 11 points each.

The win moved the Indians season record to 21-0, while the Hornets dropped to 18-4.

With the loss, HWC secured the #2 seed from District 7, and will play the St. John Woodchucks in the late game of the Region 4 Tournament on Monday, March 7, also at the Devils Lake Sports Center.

District 7 Boys’ Basketball Tournament, Devils Lake

First Round

HWC 72, Benson Co. 32

BC 6 6 12 8 32

HWC 21 24 18 9 72

HWC: Tate Grossman 20, Gabe Allmaras 13, Alex Erickson 12, Brock Fike 6, Madden Thorson 6, Isaac Friese 3, Tallen Thorson 3, Avery Williams 3, Keaton Keller 2, Ashton Reimche 2, Teagan Tipton 2.

Benson Co.: Macyn Olson 12, Paxton Neppl 7, Lane Benson 5, Gunnar Larson 4, Colton Green 4.

Semifinals

HWC 65, Warwick 52

Warwick 16 9 17 10 52

HWC 22 14 9 20 65

HWC: Erickson 20, Allmaras 19, Grossman 10, M. Thorson 6, Friese 5, Keller 5.

Warwick: Dwight Hunt 17, Jason Lenoir 12, Mark Fassett 10, Dorvan McKay Jr. 7, Cayden Feather 4, Dalton Joramo 2.

Championship

Four Winds-Minnewaukan 69,

HWC 43

HWC 8 12 19 4 43

FW-M 15 17 15 22 69

HWC: Friese 11, M. Thorson 11, Erickson 9, Allmaras 5, Grossman 5.

FW-M: Jayden Yankton 22, Deng Deng 13, Dalen Leftbear 12, Kelson Keja 11, Jacolby Pearson 10.