Class B: District 5 Preview

Barnes County North:  Lost games by an average of 21 points a night…Won one game beating only Midkota/Kensal…They were beaten by 30 or more points seven times…The QRF ranked them as the third worst team in North Dakota last season…Good news is they had very few contributions from the senior class.  Junior Troy Rudolph will be a leader as well be David Fletcher who is a junior…

Carrington: Had a 7-1 home record but struggled the most on neutral courts splitting their three games in the Jamestown Civic Center…Had a five game winning streak early in the year that helped get them going…Scored the second most points of the section teams…Lost two top 100 ranked players so they will have to work to replace Seth Abaurrea and Brady Smith.  Also, sophomore Garrett Bickett had a fantastic spring and summer of basketball and should have a strong winter campaign…Much of the rotation was senior talent but Connor Wendel and Shae Mehring were key contributors who return..

Edgeley/Kulm/Montpelier:  The Rebels were .500 on the year when they went to Ellendale and lost by 20 and that game really seemed to send them on a downward spiral.  They were 7-6, lost to Enderlin in a close game and the next think you know the squad lost five in a row and overall lost seven of eight down the stretch.  Offensively in those losses the best they could do was score 51 points which is why their season average dipped to 47 points scored per game for the season…Connor Entzi is a top five talent in North Dakota’s current senior class so expect some massive outputs.  He will get help from fellow senior Tucker Knudson.  They bring back four starters…

Ellendale:  Won games by an average of a dozen points a night on their way to an 18-5 record…Won their first 14 games of the season before dropping five of the last nine.  Team like Strasburg/Zeeland, LaMoure/Litchville-Marion, and Carrington who the Cards beat the first time around beat then in the second game…They were perfect at home for the season…Adam White had a monster senior year last winter so replacing him will be quite tough…Juniors Brennan Vance and Hunter White now step into the spotlight leading the program as does big man Logan Schumacher who stands 6-foot-5.  Vance had a great spring and summer with ECI…Another key piece returning is Luke Wertz…

LaMoure/Litchville-Marion:  The Loboes lost their firs four games of the year and then turned everything around and made a run to the state semi-finals in a captivating change of events.  This is a squad that put things together winning all their games in February rolling until they dropped a game to Oakes in the districts but then they turned around and beat Oakes in the Region final to make state giving LLM two wins in three games in the season series….Drew Thiegles is a top 20 player in the senior class who should lead LLM back to big things…Quinn Alo is the large body post back and ready to bang while Brady Warcken is a senior handler and shooter.  Marcus Good is a returning ball handler as a junior…

Midkota/Kensal:  The Mustangs lost all their regular season games before a district shocker beating Barnes County North in the districts.  Why did they win only one game?  They had the third worst offensive production in North Dakota averaging just 33.6 points per game which was balanced by having the fourth worst defense giving up over 68 points per game… Joseph Vollmer was one of the top players from a year ago.  Carson Quam is also back and they were the top scoring options for the team a year ago…

Oakes:  The top offensive team in the district, the Tornadoes won 19 of 25 games before dropping the regional final to LLM by a single basket.  They, like LLM, had a tough start to the year losing four of their first six.  That was turned around with 17 wins in 18 games in the heart of the season.  The one team that had their number was LLM who beat them two out of three games….Oakes lost some quality point production at guard when Bryce Meehl and Carter Zetocha graduated.  That said, Brody Bartholomew has a chance to be good and Ethan Zetocha is a very good lead guard who scored 14.2 points per game a yaer ago.  Brody put up just under nine a contest…