Pierre 60 Bismarck 73: Game Takes

<p><strong>Bismarck, ND - </strong>They called this game the Governor’s Cup for obvious reasons. The Demons walked away with the trophy tonight. I heard that this game had not been played in 22 years and Bismarck will head down to Pierre next year to return the favor. After tonight’s game, the Governors will head back to South Dakota with a 7-9 record. The #5 ranked Demons now have a 15-3 record heading into the weekend. This was a fun and competitive game throughout, the final score makes it look worse than it was. Pierre was in control in the first half and they stayed within striking distance for most of the second half. Eventually, the Governors could not keep up with Eaglestaff and the Demons and Bismarck came away with a quality win.</p> <h3><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Stat Leaders</strong></span> </h3> <h5><strong>Pierre</strong></h5> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="963751" first="Lincoln" last="Kienholz"] (2023) |6-3 G| </strong>- 17 pts, 12 rbs, 2 ast. 1 stl.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="963775" first="Jackson" last="Edman"] (2023) |6-7 F| </strong>- 15 pts, 5 rbs, 4 ast, 1 stl, 8 blk. </p> <p><strong>Matthew Hanson (2022) |6-4 G| </strong>- 9 pts, 2 rbs, 3 ast, 3 stl.</p> <p><strong>Jacob Mayer (2023) |5-11 G| </strong>- 6 pts, 1 rbs, 2 ast.</p> <p><strong>Christian Busch (2023) |6-4 C| </strong>- 6 pts. </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1384888" first="Jett" last="Zabel"] (2024) |6-5 F| </strong>- 4 pts, 4 rbs, 3 ast.</p> <h5><strong>Bismarck</strong></h5> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1046352" first="Treysen" last="Eaglestaff"] (2022) |6-6 F| </strong>- 43 pts, 16 rbs, 3 ast, 4 stl.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1141138" first="Cole" last="Jahner"] (2023) |6-3 G/F|</strong> - 8 pts, 1 rbs, 1 ast, 2 stl. </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1135881" first="Ethan" last="Stotz"] (2022) |6-1 F|</strong> - 6 pts, 5 rbs, 1 ast, 2 stl.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1167964" first="Carter" last="Henke"] (2024) |6-0 G|</strong> - 5 pts, 2 rbs.</p> <p><strong>Caden Fischer (2022) |6-0 G|</strong> - 2 pts, 5 rbs. </p> <p><strong>Kyler Scott (2022) |6-4 F|</strong> - 4 pts, 6 rbs, 2 ast, 2 stl.</p> <h3><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Game Notes</strong></span></h3> <p><strong>Breaking Records</strong> - In the first half, the UND commit [player_tooltip player_id="1046352" first="Treysen" last="Eaglestaff"] broke the record to become the All-Time Leading Scorer in School History. That is quite an accomplishment! Trey has already had a fantastic career and senior year, he is making it more special in every game. He will be cemented in the BHS history books for a long, long, long time. </p> <p><strong>Athletes on Display</strong> - We had 3 stud athletes that stood out in this game. [player_tooltip player_id="963751" first="Lincoln" last="Kienholz"] is a next-level athlete that now has D1 offers in both football and basketball. He showed why tonight with his dunking. Lincoln came away with 3 spectacular dunks. Kienholz is powerful, explosive, and can jump out of the gym. [player_tooltip player_id="963775" first="Jackson" last="Edman"] really stuck out tonight as a shot-blocker. I had him down for 8 blocks. He had hustle blocks from behind, tomahawk blocks off the backboard, blocks in front of the rim, he denied a dunk, and many others. [player_tooltip player_id="1046352" first="Treysen" last="Eaglestaff"] is a special all-around athlete that can do it all. He scored 43 but he did much more than that. Trey dropped dimes, nailed a 1-handed runner, flushed a dunk, posted up and finished with a hook, picked off passes on D, ran the point, AND1 finished, double-digit boards, killed it with his hesitation move, hit a sick 23-foot pull-up buzzer-beater to beat the shot clock, and displayed many dirty stepbacks. </p> <p><strong>Govs Patience</strong> - In the first half I was impressed with Pierre’s game plan and execution. Early in the game the Govs made it a point to get post touches to [player_tooltip player_id="963775" first="Jackson" last="Edman"] and <strong>Christian Busch</strong>. This worked well, slowed the game down, and forced the Demons to play defense deep in the shot clock. The Demons had to double in the post and this created opportunities for the Govs. At one point, they doubled [player_tooltip player_id="963775" first="Jackson" last="Edman"], the double team came, [player_tooltip player_id="963751" first="Lincoln" last="Kienholz"] cut on the backside and Edman hit him for an easy 2. The Demons also tried to front and double from behind. Pierre took advantage of this and ran some sweet high-low action for good looks. I loved it when Edman posted up deep in the paint and the Govs got him the ball. It worked well early but it seemed they got away from it later in the game, it did not help that the Govs had to play from behind in the second half. </p> <p><strong>Demon Defense </strong>- This is my favorite defense to watch in the Dakotas. Bismarck picks up full court with their press and they do not guard the inbounder. At times they will faceguard and other times they will play 3/4 or behind. The Demons will then run-and-jump after the ball gets in and will occasionally trap as well. Their rotations are always in motion and ubiquitous. They get steals in the fullcourt but it seems like they get a bunch of TO’s around halfcourt by picking off passes or deflections. The Demons come at you in waves by subbing often with 3, 4, or 5 guys in at a time. BHS will also get turnovers from travels and errant passes that end up flying out of bounds. My favorite part about their D is when they hustle from behind and get a tip steal or get a trap in the halfcourt when hustle backing. They also forced 2 offensive fouls on Pierre when they were trying to clear for room to breathe. </p> <p><strong>Bismarck Pace</strong> - The Demon pace was frenetic and neve ending. Even after Pierre would score BHS would look to jam it back down their through and score a quick bucket before they could set their pace. Bismarck scored many points in uptempo situations and they shoot a ton of transition 3-pointers. This leads to long rebounds and extra possessions for the Demons when they snag them. When they play this fast, it makes it tough on a team to keep track of [player_tooltip player_id="1046352" first="Treysen" last="Eaglestaff"]. They are just worrying about getting back and D and sometimes Trey would already be taking a shot. When Bismarck went cold, Pierre could make a run and be a bit more patient. However, the Demons can score very fast and you can find yourself down double digits in the blink of an eye. BHS plays at an impressive pace! I think most people would agree that playing this style of basketball is fun!</p>