Sports

Braves, Sioux hunting for wins at district tourney

By Matthew Semisch

02/24/2015

All seven Class B District 11 boys’ high school basketball teams’ records reset to 0-0 at this point in the season.

Frankly, that suits the teams from Bottineau High and Westhope-Newburg (W-N) just fine.

Both Bottineau (7-12) and W-N (1-18) finished their regular season slates well below the .500 overall mark. BHS finished 3-3 in District 11 play, while W-N went 0-6 against its district rivals.

Both teams wrapped up their regular season slates last weekend and earned mixed results.

W-N ended up with the better week of the two despite losing 58-53 at home to Surrey on Tuesday in Westhope and 68-53 at Rolette-Wolford (R-W) on Thursday. The Sioux then bounced back on Saturday with a 56-54 victory on the road at Burke Central (BC).

Bottineau wasn’t quite as fortunate, as the Braves lost both of their final two games of the regular season. BHS fell 81-36 at eighth-ranked Our Redeemer’s (ORCS) on Thursday before dropping a 79-60 decision to St. John at home on Saturday night.

SIOUX GET FIRST WIN

W-N’s three-game final week of the regular season started off well but not well enough for the Sioux’s liking. They jumped out to a 36-31 halftime lead over Surrey in Westhope, but the Mustangs turned the game around in the second half and ran out five-point winners.

Sioux head coach Bob Beaudrie felt that his team’s effort was there for much of the game. Not enough was done, though, to help W-N pull down its first win of the season.

“We’ve got to put four quarters together,” Beaudrie said. “The last three or four games before this, we started well but didn’t finish well, and tonight we started well but didn’t finish. 

“It’s not for lack of effort because we’re working our tails off and getting more guys in the game and subbing a lot more, but we need to put four quarters, a complete game, together.”

Freshman guard Tate Wyman finished with a team-high 21 points in the losing effort.

The Sioux were then back in action on Thursday night in Rolette against R-W. This time, W-N trailed most of the way in an eventual 68-53 loss to the Comets.

Wyman again picked up 21 points for the Sioux to go along with three assists and a pair of rebounds.

W-N then finally picked up its first victory of the season the next night in Bowbells. Down 29-27 at halftime against Burke Central, the Sioux stormed back and outscored the Troopers 23-9 in the fourth quarter to win 56-54.

Wyman led W-N once more, this time dropping 28 points on the Troopers. The freshman also finished the game with three steals and an assist.

The Sioux already knew coming into last week that they would head into this week’s District 11 tournament in Rugby with the No. 7 seed. W-N will face No. 2 Towner-Granville-Upham (T-G-U) on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Beaudrie believes that his hard-working Sioux can cause some damage at the district showcase.

“Every game is a learning experience, and we just have to take what we’ve learned into districts, and I think we’re there,” he said. “This is a good team and we’re right there, but we just need to start believing in ourselves. 

“If we can get over the hump, I think our other problems will go away.”

BRAVES FALL TWICE

Bottineau High wasn’t as fortunate as W-N in the final week of the regular season. Instead, the Braves fell to non-district opponents ORCS and St. John.

ORCS had little trouble against Bottineau in a 81-36 win on Thursday in Minot. A 27-point second quarter for the Knights blew the game open and BHS couldn’t get back into the game from there.

Jacob Kvernum finished the game with a team-high 10 points.
Bottineau then fell to St. John 79-60 on Saturday in both teams’ regular-season finale. Kvernum finished the game with 17 points, only three behind teammate Parker Engelhard’s 20.

BHS will face fifth-seeded Sawyer on Friday at 4 p.m. in Rugby in the first round of the District 11 tournament.
Braves head coach Nate Simpson said his team will spend the coming days preparing for what it will see once the postseason begins.

“Right now, for us it’s about cleaning things up,” he said. “We’re all 0-0 again, and we’ll have to be ready for what we’re going to face in Rugby.”