Class B State Tournament Preview (ND)
The Class B State Tournament starts Thursday in Minot and the event has people excited all over the state after the fantastic battles that Dickinson Trinity, Our Redeemer’s, Shiloh Christian, and Four Winds-Minnewaukan have already had this year. Add in…
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Continue ReadingThe Class B State Tournament starts Thursday in Minot and the event has people excited all over the state after the fantastic battles that Dickinson Trinity, Our Redeemer’s, Shiloh Christian, and Four Winds-Minnewaukan have already had this year. Add in a first timer in Northern Cass, a star in Brody Nieuwsma and his Strasburg/Zeeland team, Grafton who turned it on at the right time, and Kenmare who has something to prove and this is a fantastic group.
Trinity, Our Redeemer’s, Shiloh, and Northern Cass all have size and just about every team has a very deep group of guards. PHD attacks the Class B State Tournament in depth like nobody else so enjoy this today and get pumped up for Thursday!
Shiloh Christian (22-2) vs Grafton (17-8)
The Spoilers were 13-8 during the regular season but they beat Park River/Fordville-Lankin and Hillsboro/Central Valley in region play which are teams that beat them earlier in the season. The Spoilers have made offensive possessions rotten for the opposition limiting teams to just 35 points a game in region play.
There are two games that people have been waiting to see and that is a Shiloh vs Our Redeemer’s rematch and a rematch of Shiloh versus Four Winds. The Skyhawks first have to get past the defensive stopping Spoilers but Shiloh has been scoring 62-64 points a game all year like clockwork and limiting teams to just 46 points per game which is the 12th best defense in the state even though they’ve played one of the toughest schedules in the state.
The Shiloh line-up is deep with the ultra competitor in Zac Martin with Chad Coulter playing on the wing and then a frontcourt of sophomore standout Bartholomew Ogbu and 6-foot-8 center Jared Walter. How does Grafton match that size? Freshman forwards Dalton Albrecht and Beau Feltman are 6-foot-4 but Grafton has no experience size that stands taller than 6-foot-2. That size is Landon Droog and he is just 6-foot-2 but half of the offense goes through him. He will have maybe the biggest challenge of his basketball life trying to score over Ogbu and Walter. The ex-factor is junior guard Jason Garza who is the heart of the team.
Prediction: Shiloh Christian 54 Grafton 43
Our Redeemer’s (24-1) vs Strasburg/Zeeland (20-4)
In early January Shiloh beat Our Redeemer’s 50-37 and the Knights have won every game since (18 in a row). Of the big three in Class B the Knights are the one that could get upset because the talent on the Clipper roster. Our Redeemer’s did beat Bishop Ryan for a second and third time this year although the games were both close in the past couple weeks. The Knights needed those Bishop Ryan battles because they were the only team to give them a good game since that loss at Shiloh two months ago.
Strasburg/Zeeland is 20-4 but they have only lost to a North Dakota varsity team once this season (Edgeley in the regular season finale). The other losses were to top teams in South Dakota and the Century JV. The Clippers have been fantastic in the playoffs getting revenge against Edgeley in the Region final plus also beating South Border, Carrington, and Linton/HMB. They are definitely battle tested.
The senior dominated Knight squad will come out standing 6-0 (Nate Demme), 6-3 (Josh VanLith), 6-4 (Ben Talley), 6-6 (John Reiten), and 6-9 (Dalton Steede). That is a large Class B line-up and every guy in that line-up can hit for double figures plus there are three talented sophomores ready to step up and produce as well (Mau, Abel, Lang). The Clippers can’t counter the size of their opponents and they won’t be as deep but they have the best player in the game and in the entire Class B state tournament right now in Brody Nieuwsma, a 6-foot-2 guard. At 6-foot-2 he is the biggest player his team has but Brody is used to challenges.
Prediction: Strasburg/Zeeland 57 Our Redeemer’s 56
Four Winds/Minnewaukan (23-1) vs Northern Cass (18-5)
The Jaguars picked up the draw that nobody wanted but like they always say, if you want to be the best you have to go through the best and the Jags have their chance. Northern Cass has won six of their last seven including two wins over Cinderella Oak Grove in Region play. Northern Cass is playing in their first state tournament ever so there will be a bit of nostalgia there.
The Indians need to focus on round one because we all know they want revenge in round two against Dickinson Trinity who gave Four Winds their only loss of the year back in December (64-61). The Indians have won 20 straight and the only team to come close Shiloh Christian and Rugby. They won games by an average of 33 points a game this season.
The Jags have a deep core of guards in Logan Nelson, Cody Springer, Brant Bohmert, and Dawson Hayden plus some beef up front but it will have to be the guards that get things done because the explosive and high flying line-up runs past size. Jason Feather, Steve Redfox, and Tronis McKay are the name trio with Redfox ranking with the best PGs in state, Feather knocking out jumpers, and McKay putting up the highlights at the rim. The Indians are the deeper team too.
Prediction: Four Winds-Minnewaukan 81 Northern Cass 67
Dickinson Trinity (20-4) vs Kenmare (21-3)
The Titans feel totally disrespected by so much talk of the other three seeded schools. They beat Four Winds and lost close games to Shiloh and Our Redeemers . They have had a hit list so to speak that reads 1) revenge vs Beulah, 2)beat Kemare, 3) beat Four Winds again, and 4) win state against a team that beat them earlier in the year. Task 1 was accomplished in the region final when a 67-60 loss to Beulah from early February was turned around to a 72-64 victory. Now Kenmare is next.
If Trinity feels disrespected, what about the Kenmare Honkers! Yes the Honkers! They lost three games in December but haven’t lost since winning 18 straight and they couldn’t ranked until just recently. There schedule hasn’t been daunting and they lost to the best three teams they have played (Our Redeemer, Bishop Ryan, Parshall). The Honkers had good recent tests against Stanley and Trinity Christian so they are ready.
Trinity is like every other top team in this event, deep in guard play. Willy Jahner, Lucas Jones, and Shawn Stoltz are a balanced group that was able to outplay Four Winds-Minnewaukan earlier in the year. Kemare will lean on the Rodins (Hunter and Jacob) as well as Kyler Melby. So yes the guards will match-up fine but the Titans have an ex-factor in 6-foot-6 Brock Messer inside.
Prediction: Dickinson Trinity 69 Kemare 60