Sports

Braves capture tourney title in Mandan

By Bottineau Courant Staff

01/03/2012

The Bottineau boy’s basketball team returned home from the Mandan Holiday Tournament not only unscathed and unbeaten but with a piece of hardware as well.

The Braves won the tournament title and improved to 8-0 on the season after defeating Shiloh Christian 57-53 last Thursday.

The Braves cruised to victories over New Salem-Almont and defending Mandan Holiday Touranment Champions Napoleon.

Holstein Hammering

The Braves opened the Mandan Holiday tournament with an 81-48 thrashing of the New Salem-Almont Holsteins.

After a fast start and a 21-7 lead after the first quarter Bottineau turned on the defense and the jets in route to a 33-point win, their sixth straight to start the season.

It was business as usual for seniors Justin McCloud and Mark LaCroix who had 27 and 19 points respectively. McCloud hit five three pointers as part of his 27 points.

He also captured his 1,000th career point in the win.

Senior Devon Grenier added 12 and Seth Bartholomay had nine down low for the Braves, who outscored the Holsteins 43-30 in the second half.
Duncan Beth had 12 points to lead the Holsteins.
Imperials inferior

Following a sluggish first quarter, which included a six-point deficit at the end of it the Braves rallied to a 17-point win over the Napoleon Imperials.

The win avenged a loss to Napoleon in last years Mandan Holiday Tournament.

LaCroix (21 points) and McCloud (18 points) were again at the top of their games for Bottineau in the win.

Senior’s Matt Bowers and Devon Grenier added nine and six respectively for the Braves. Bowers’ nine points came from three trey’s, one of which came at a crucial point in the fourth quarter.

Also netting threes for Bottineau in the final quarter were junior Trevor Wettlaufer and freshman Brock Hiltner.

Napoleon’s Jonah Schwartzenberger led all players with 25 points in the losing effort.

Defense wins Championships

The addage that defense can win a team a championship was put to the test last Thursday as the Braves fought the Shiloh Christian Skyhawks for the tournament title.

In the end a second-half defensive shift to a 1-2-2 zone clinched the game for Bottineau, who took home the title with a 57-53 win.

The Braves trailed by 12 points at halftime, the most they have trailed all season. A strong second half effort including a 14-0 run in the fourth quarter led to the comeback.

McCloud (22) and LaCroix (18) again led the Braves in scoring, but sophomore guard Garrett Pollman hit two big threes down the stretch to help spurn the Braves to victory.

Hiltner added eight for Bottineau in the championship win.

The six-foot, five inch senior Matt Rask had 18 points to lead the Skyhawks. He scored 12 of those in the first half.

Both LaCroix and McCloud were named to the All-tournament team.

The now 8-0 Braves will face their next test tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Kenmare. They will also host Dunseith at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.