News

Sioux take fifth place at Velva Invite

By Bottineau Courant Staff

12/18/2012

Westhope-Newburg’s boy’s basketball team captured a fifth place finish this past week in the Velva Invite tournament.

The Sioux downed Surrey 51-46 on Saturday to take the consolation title. The Sioux got to that point after a 54-52 loss to open the tournament to eventual fourth-place Kenmare, and then advanced to the consolation title game with a 51-36 win on Thursday over host Velva.

The Sioux opened the tournament on Tuesday with the first-round loss to the Honkers. Kenmare shot out the gates and took an early 18-11 lead after the first quarter.

The Honkers held that seven-point margin into halftime, but the Sioux did not give up.
Westhope-Newburg went on a 13-7 run in the third quarter to cut the deficit one point. However, Kenmare held on as the Sioux didn’t quite have enough to come back and fell 54-52.

Seniors Jace Helmers, Tyler Ellsowrth and Mason Ankenbauer all scored in double figures for the Honkers.

The Sioux were led by junior Hunter Braaten, who had 17 points and a game-high eight steals. Senior Karlie Hancock nearly had a double-double scoring 10 points and grabbing a team-best eight rebounds.

Senior Logan Hermes also added eight points for the Sioux in the loss.

The Sioux bounced back in a big way on Thursday as they dominated host Velva 51-36.

Westhope-Newburg’s defense was on full display as they held the Aggies to single digits in points each of the first three quarters. That built a 38-22 lead after three quarters, and led to the 25-point win.

Junior Ethan Miller led the Sioux with 15 points. Hermes had a big game for the Sioux as well as he dropped in 14 points and also led the team with 14 rebounds.

Braaten again was top thief as he had seven steals to go with 12 points.

Senior Jon Sivertson also played well in the win with nine points and five steals and a team-best four asssists.

On Saturday the Sioux closed out the tournament with a fifth place finish after defeating Surrey 51-46. The win also improved the Sioux’s season record to 3-2.

Westhope-Newburg fell behind early as the Mustangs opened up an eight-point lead by halftime. However, the Sioux defense showed up again in the second half as they held the Mustangs to 15 second-half points and earned a five-point win.

Braaten had another solid game for the Sioux as he scored a team-high 20 points, while also grabbing nine rebounds and nabbing six steals.

Senior Lane Berentson also stepped up for the Sioux as he had 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
Miller, Hancock and sophomore Chance Kitzman had strong games on the glass, as they had 11, nine and 10 rebounds respectively. Miller also added eight points in the win.

The Sioux play in the second half of a double-header against Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood at 7:15 p.m. tonight in Westhope. The game will follow a battle between the two school’s girl’s teams.

Notes:
In five games this season Braaten is averaging team bests with 18.8 points, 2.6 assists and five steals per game. He is also averaging 6.8 rebounds per game.

The team’s top rebounder is Hancock, who has 8.8 rebounds per game to go with a 5.4 points per game average.

Miller is the team’s second best scorer with nine points per game, and also has 7.4 rebounds per game.