Sports
Braves bounced from districts on last day
Tyler Ohmann
02/18/2014
A team that averaged just above 50 points per game, the Bottineau Braves pushed their offense up a notch to average nearly 62 points in the District 11 Tournament, and put themselves one game away from advancing to regions this past weekend.
The eighth-seeded Braves knocked off the fifth-seed Velva in a loser-out game on Friday, but fell short against Drake-Anamoose in the tournaments final day in Bottineau on Saturday. Bottineau fell to top-seeded, and eventual champion Rugby in the first round.
Bottineau put up their season’s best total on that Friday 76-73 win over Velva.
Head coach Nate Simpson was happy with their effort throughout the tournament.
“I think it was a result of us getting up and pressing a little bit,” Simpson said. “We maybe didn’t get steals, but it got us up on our toes a little bit, and that gave us confidence.”
“That was our biggest thing, we knew we had the potential to score the basketball, but the kids just didn’t have confidence for whatever reason,” Simpson added.
Velva led after one quarter 18-14, but the Braves, who lost to the Aggies, despite a strong effort through three quarters in the regular season, would not let them pull away.
“The kids were still confident, even after losing to Rugby,” Simpson said. “We had Velva beat on our home court earlier in the year, and we just turned the ball over too much in the fourth quarter.”
The Braves responded with a 20-point second quarter on Friday to take a 34-28 halftime lead.
Bottineau then proved resilient and kept that lead, which culminated in a 76-73 upset. Bottineau led 65-55 for the biggest lead of the game in the fourth quarter, and held on for the win.
“This time we knew we could play with them, that we could hand with them, and the kids played a heck of a game,” Simpson said. “They were poised in the fourth quarter, and for us not being in that position in many games, they made a lot of right decisions.”
A big part of the winning effort came from junior Christian St. Claire, who finished with a double-double, 17 points and 11 rebounds in the victory.
Bottineau was led in scoring by sophomore Parker Engelhard who had 22 points, and senior Philip Neubauer added 14 points.
Fellow senior Garret Pollman finished with 13 points and seven assists.
Christopher Peterson and Michael Thingstad each had 15 points apiece for the Aggies in the loss.
However, the Bottineau run came to an end on Saturday as they fell 83-57 to a hot-shooting Drake-Anamoose team, the second seed.
The Raiders led by only two points at the end of the first quarter, and held a 41-29 advantage at halftime.
Bottineau rallied back a few times in the third quarter, but still were down by 15 after three quarters. The Raiders pulled away in the fourth and earned the victory, and the spot in the Region 6 Tournament.
“The kids played confident, they played hard and they played with energy,” Simpson said. “I could be happier if we were going to a region tournament, but at least we went down fighting, and we didn’t give up or let up.”
A big part in the win for the Raiders was their shooting. They shot 53.7 percent from the field on the day, and were 8-of-19 from beyond the arc.
Senior Alex Volchenko paced all scorers with 22 points, and was 6-of-8 from three point range.
“They shot the ball so well,” Simpson said. “You have to tip your hat to them, we wanted to make them shoot the ball, and they shot the ball well from outside.”
Bottineau was led by Pollman’s 20 points, while Neubauer added 13 points and a team-best six rebounds.
St. Claire added 12 points, and Engelhard had 10 points.
Tanner Volson added 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Lee Reinowski had 19 points to help the Raiders earn the win.
In the opening round the Braves had their hands full with a strong Rugby squad.
Bottineau held their own in the first quarter, and trailed 20-15 after it was over. However, the Panthers offense was on a roll, and they led 45-21 by halftime.
That lead stretched in the second half, and culminated in an 85-52 win for Rugby.
“We played well against a really, really good Rugby team,” Simpson said.
Brad Heidlebaugh had 27 points on an efficient 10-for-16 night from the field. Zach Miller added 26 points and nine rebounds for the Panthers.
Bottineau was led by St. Claire, who had 14 points and 14 rebounds, including eight offensive boards.
“Christian was an animal on the boards all weekend,” Simpson said. “I was happy how we got after it on the rebounding end.”
Pollman added 18 points and five rebounds in the opening round loss.
The loss to Drake-Anamoose on Saturday though, ended the Braves season with a 4-18 record overall.
They say good bye to five seniors: Pollman, Neubauer, Jake Carroll, Jacob Halvorson and Garrett Lynnes.
They do return scoring threats Engelhard and St. Claire as well as Alex Bristol and Ethan Kerslake, who had a lot of playing time during the season.