North Dakota Class A State Tournament: Semifinal matchups set
The Class A state quarterfinals wrapped up late Thursday night with a Bismarck Century blowout win over West Fargo. Blowouts were a theme in the quarterfinals as three of the four games were decided by 15 points or more. Three…
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Continue ReadingThe Class A state quarterfinals wrapped up late Thursday night with a Bismarck Century blowout win over West Fargo.
Blowouts were a theme in the quarterfinals as three of the four games were decided by 15 points or more. Three of the four games were all but over by halftime.
With that in mind, hopefully for the viewers, it’s strength against strength in the state semifinal matchups.
Game 1: Fargo Davies vs. Grand Forks Red River
Fargo Davies did what most expected it to do in the first game of the day, blowing out Bismarck Legacy while piling up 91 points. Grand Forks Red River supplied the one competitive game of the first day, using stifling defense to knock off Mandan, getting a late tip-in from Cole Benson.
Fargo Davies is 3-0 against the Roughriders thus far on the season, winning two by 20 or more points.
The defensive effort displayed by Red River in the win over Mandan was impressive though and if the Roughriders are able to shut down the perimeter like they were Thursday, they’ve got a chance. Similar to Mandan, the Eagles want to get out and play in space. They’ve got skilled guards and forwards who can do a lot of damage if they are able to play on schedule and in rhythm. The Roughriders took Mandan out of that rhythm completely and while their offense never really took off, they were balanced on that end of the floor and their patience allowed the pace to be to their favor.
Still, Fargo Davies has more firepower than Mandan. They don’t have a big man of Elijah Klein’s ilk but they’ve got three double figure scorers who can do their best work inside the arc in Cole Hage, Cam VanDam and Jaden Klabo plus guards who can space out the floor a lot better than the Mandan guards.
Grand Forks Red River will need more from Brady Dvorak. The junior guard averages better than 15 points per game but was held to just five Thursday. Will Obioha had a solid game with 13 and Kobe Springer continued his solid late-season play with three 3-pointers and a solid all around game. The Roughriders will need more where that came from and then some to beat the Eagles.
Game 2: Jamestown vs. Bismarck Century
Jamestown wasted little time showing its the legitimate favorite to win the state title in the quarterfinal game, using a whopping 27-0 run over a seven-minute stretch late in the first half to put the game against Wahpeton to bed by the break. Boden Skunberg and Mason Walters combined to score 35 points but the biggest development was the Bluejays getting points from Dawson Douty and Carson Lamp. Those two combined for 23 points while Jacob Hilgemann added nine.
If Jamestown gets 30-plus from three guys not named Walters and Skunberg, it is going to be incredibly tough to beat.
Bismarck Century got big-knocker performances from Treyton Mattern and Cade Feeney in a 78-61 win over West Fargo as the two star guards combined for 55 points. Mattern was dominant in the way he controlled the tempo and got Century into whatever offense it wanted while Feeney was terrific on the defensive end in particular while also providing several key shots in the second half.
Jamestown is 2-0 against Century on the year but the two teams haven’t played since early January. The game won’t lack for high-end talent as arguably the two best seniors in the state are on the floor plus Skunberg who is the best junior (maybe best player overall). The Century guards have experience like few in the state and can control a game as well as any set of guards. But Jamestown not only has the top-end talent, the Bluejays are complete on both ends of the floor and can win even with subpar (by their standards) offense.
I’d expect Bismarck Century to try to slow the game down (Virginia-esque) and limit possessions; keep everything in a halfcourt setting and try to grind their way through. It’ll come down to whether or not their guards can sustain the success they had in the halfcourt against a bigger set of guards Jamestown deploys. And can Jamestown continue to get shot-making from the complementary guys? Can Lamp, Lunzman, Kallenbach and Douty provide relief when Skunberg and Walters draw extra attention? That’ll be a key once again.