Stuck in a halftime gridlock, Our Redeemer's Christian School's Logan Sorum noticed a weakness in the Bottineau defense.
"They were leaving me open," the senior guard said. "So I talked to my teammates and I was like, 'I'm wide open. Get me the ball.' "
That plan worked smoothly in the second half Tuesday at ORCS. Sorum's 20 second-half points equaled Bottineau's team total and the Knights ran away with a 68-45 win.
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Daniel Allar/MDN
Our Redeemer’s Christian School guard Logan Sorum looks to pass in front of Bottineau junior Philip Neubauer during the Knights’ 68-45 victory Tuesday at Our Redeemer’s.
Thirteen of those points came in a four minute, 35 second rapid-fire span of the third quarter. Sorum started his shooting display with a 3-pointer. He finished the frame by recording the Knights' last eight points on two foul shots, a jumper and a pair of layups.
In total, Sorum tallied 25 points, good for a season-high and his sixth double-figure game in seven contests.
"Logan definitely brought a lot to us," ORCS coach Jeremy Feller said. "We talked in several timeouts and at halftime about getting to the rim and I think Logan did that. He got to the rim a few times, got himself going."
Throughout most of the first half, the Knights (7-0) allowed Bottineau to play catch up. ORCS built an 11-4 lead, only to let the Braves (3-2) cut it to 11-10. The Knights possessed a 15-10 advantage late in the first, but Bottineau hit a 3 and converted a turnover into points.
In the second stanza, ORCS grabbed a four-point lead on the heels of an 8-0 run. Then they turned the ball over a few times and went into halftime tied.
"Going into the locker room we were down, we were lazy," Sorum said. "We just could not come out and figure our stuff out. Going into the locker room we said, 'We really have to step this up. We look pathetic right now.' "
After Sorum got the team going, Josh VanLith helped finish the Braves off. The freshman point guard scored 10 of his 18 points in the final period while dishing out a few assists.
The Knights started the quarter on a 16-2 run to grab a 62-40 lead.
"I drove more and was more aggressive with my dribbling and shooting," VanLith said.
Bottineau got 10 points from leading scorer Jake Carroll and Garret Pollman chimed in with nine. The Braves' only previous defeat was a two-point loss to No. 6 Des Lacs-Burlington on Friday.
"We were expecting a matchup and I think we just came out and executed and kinda wore them out a bit in the second half," Feller said. "We just kinda grinded one out."
ORCS plays No. 4 Dickinson Trinity at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 4 in the Shiloh Invite. Bottineau starts the Mandan tournament on Dec. 27.