Levi lifts Lions
Ryan senior’s effort puts Lions into final against BombersBy CHRIS AARHUS Staff Writer caarhus@minotdailynews.com
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Levi Freidt wasn't about to miss out on the Region 6 tournament again.
The Bishop Ryan senior forward was electric in the first half, scoring the first 10 points of the game and finishing with a game-high 22 in the Lions' 61-34 win over Des Lacs-Burlington in a semifinal contest at the District 12 boys basketball tournament Saturday at the Minot Municipal Auditorium.
The win puts Ryan into Monday's title game against Lewis and Clark-Berthold, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. It also gives both championship teams an automatic bid into the region tournament.
"I'm just excited to get into the championship and make it to regionals," Freidt said. "We missed out last year, but we're in this year and it feels really, really good."
Freidt brought his 'A' game to the court, starting the game with 10 straight points, which lasted 4 minutes, 53 seconds. The Lakers didn't get on the board until Dillon Wickum's short jumper at the 3:07 mark of the first quarter.
"Levi's been a tremendous player for us all year," Ryan coach Scott Medalen said. "He's really been a team leader. He's kind of taken everybody under his wing. He's not a real vocal guy, but what he has done is lead by example."
Freidt finished 9 of 12 from field, also sinking a trio of free throws. After Freidt's first 10, Ben Magnuson scored on a jumper and Freidt followed that by scoring Ryan's next eight points. The Lions (18-3) led 26-13 at halftime.
"This was totally opposite of what happened last night," Medalen said, referring to Friday's slow start in a win over Our Redeemer's. "Everybody got into a flow better. It was just a good overall effort."
Freidt said he wasn't pleased with Friday's performance as he sat in the locker room waiting for the coaching staff. Some reassuring words helped Freidt and his teammates come out strong on Saturday.
"We were pretty upset about the game," Freidt said. "We come out now and we're all good."
Medalen said first-round jitters has been around as long as he's been coaching.
"I've been around the business long enough and usually that first game, it's all about survival," Medalen said. "I felt confident with our game plan (against DL-B)."
Freidt cooled down in the second half, but teammates Ben Magnuson and Taylor Schwan heated up. Magnuson had 19 points including five 3-pointers while Schwan had 10 straight points in the second half, finishing with 12.
Ryan turned the ball over five times in the first quarter, and combined for five the rest of the way. Medalen said that was key against a scrappy Lakers defense.
"You want to take care of the ball against a good defensive team like Des Lacs-Burlington," Medalen said.
For DL-B, it was a long, cold night shooting the ball. The Lakers (15-6) made 13 of 42 for 31 percent and were just 4 of 23 (17 percent) in the first half. Dillon Wickum had a team-high eight points and Tyler Storseth and John Sundsbak each added seven for DL-B, which meets Surrey at 4 p.m. for a berth in the region tournament.
"We just didn't play very well," Wagner said. "We didn't make baskets and they did.
"We talked about coming back and playing well. Try to be positive and do what we can on Monday."
Lewis and Clark-Berthold 58, Kenmare 43
Bombers coach Brock Teets clearly doesn't measure contribution by points.
Berthold's starters combined for 50 of its 58 points, but Teets came away from the semifinal victory all smiles about the play of his bench.
"They won the game for us," Teets said. "Our bench came up big for us."
Kenmare led almost the entire first half, enjoying a 28-21 advantage at halftime. The hot start continued into the third quarter when Joey Rodin hit a jumper to put the Honkers up 33-25.
Then, Berthold's defense went into lockdown mode.
The Bombers didn't allow a point for six minutes in the third quarter while their offense went to work on what was eventually a 13-0 run that put Berthold up 38-33 before Clay Nelson hit a jumper for Kenmare to close out the quarter.
Teets said the big run was sparked by his second team.
"The second team comes in and absolutely locks them down, defensively," Teets said. "They were more patient than the first team. Nice to see the first team sit down and actually see what was going on. Without our bench, I don't know where we'd be."
The Bombers (20-1) took off in the fourth quarter to close it out, earning a trip to the district championship game.
Dan Yale had a game-high 20 points and Tyler Birdsall had 11 for the Bombers, which shot 38 percent (21-55) from the field.
"Nothing's guaranteed this time of year," Teet said. "We were tight, but we got this thing turned around. It was good to win a game against a solid team, even though we didn't shoot well."
Kenmare had complete control of the game in the first half, leading 18-5 at one point. However, the bottom dropped out as the Honkers went cold from the field in the second half. They were led in scoring by Ross Schumacher's 17 points.
Loser-out
Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood 48, Our Redeemer's 43
Logan Daeley had four of his game-high 17 points in the final two minutes, helping the Mavericks (8-13) extend their season with a victory over the Knights in loser-out action.
Our Redeemer's took a 42-40 lead with 4:27 to play after a putback from Ricky Ness. The Mavericks responded with a layup from Wyatt Stanley to tie it and went ahead when Daeley sank an easy 2-pointer off an inbounds pass. Waylon Stanley found his brother Wyatt for an easy layup with 1:10 to go, putting the Knights in a 10-point hole.
Ethan Rostvedt came back with a free throw to pull Our Redeemer's within three, but Daeley scored his final points of the game on a nice lay-in with 14 seconds remaining, clinching the victory. Wyatt Stanley finished with 16 and Waylon added 9 for the Mavericks, who meet Kenmare at 6 p.m. Monday with a Region 6 tournament berth on the line. M-L-S finished 21-47 from the field for 42 percent.
Our Redeemer's got 13 points from Joel Deckert and 10 from Luke Sorum, finishing 16 of 50 from the field for 32 percent. The Knights end their season at 5-16.
Surrey 64,
Glenburn 27
The Mustangs kept their season alive thanks to an 11-0 run in the first quarter and a 16-0 run in the third quarter that gave Surrey all the distance it needed.
Brent Burckhard had 11 of his game-high 15 points in the second quarter to lead the Mustangs, who improved to 10-11 on the season. Dallas Klassen added 10.
Glenburn was led by Houston Lavachek's 12. Jacob Shaver was also in double digits, scoring 10 for the Panthers, who end their season at 0-21.






