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Ramping up the pressure

DL-B’s trapping defense shuts down the Bombers

Alex Eisen/MDN DL-B junior Joshua Knutson (21) squares up his defender in a Class B boys basketball game played Friday night in Burlington. The Lakers won 77-57.

BURLINGTON — It was a one-point game after the first quarter Friday night of a District 12 clash between the Des Lacs-Burlington Lakers (6-2, 4-0 Region 6) and the Lewis & Clark-Berthold Bombers (5-3, 0-1 Region 6) in Burlington.

Then the Lakers’ defense took over and kicked started their offense for a 77-57 home victory.

“We think that we are able to generate offense off of our defense,” DL-B coach Douglas Wagner said. “With the speed and quickness that we have on the court, we need to speed the game up. And I thought there were stretches that we were able to do that. We like to get teams playing faster than they are comfortable.”

The Bombers, after leading for most of the opening frame, held a 15-14 advantage through the first eight minutes. The Lakers’ half-court trapping defense caused all sorts of chaos for Berthold after that.

It reached an all-time high when the Bombers were called for a 10-second backcourt violation. Yet, in a sense, that was at least better than another steal by Lakers senior Drew Pearson or junior Eddie White Bear.

Pearson led all scorers with 26 points and also had a team-high six steals. Rylan Bachmeier (14 points) and Tanner Johnson (12 points) finished in double figures for DL-B as well.

“If you get into a running game with them, you know what happens,” Bombers coach Christopher Brown said. “In the second quarter they got it going and we didn’t take care of the basketball. Kudos to their defense, though. They forced some turnovers on us and we just had a hard time rebounding from that.”

DL-B limited the Bombers to five points in the second quarter and went to halftime leading 38-20.

“It was a snowball effect for us,” Brown said. “So, one turnover turned into another and we kind of started hanging our heads. But we are going to learn from it, come back and better tomorrow.”

Berthold shot 35 percent from the floor, and was led by senior Garrett Hanson with 23 points and made 11-out-12 at the free throw stripe. DL-B went 48 percent from the field.

The Lakers’ lead hovered around the 20-point margin in the second half. And they continued to dazzle with a no-look assist from White Bear, a three-point play completed by Johnson at the end of the third quarter and another successful and-one from Pearson in the fourth quarter.

The benches were emptied out with substitutions two and half minutes left to play and the Lakers closed out the contest by 20 points, 77-57. A solid win for the Lakers after a grueling winter to this point.

“You talk to any coach around the state, it’s been a tough year to get much flow,” Wagner said. “We have missed four or five days of practice now. We are just not in the type of shape we want to be in. We are not the only team in that boat, but that’s the reality.”

The Lakers have a makeup game from mid-December against Velva-Sawyer at 7:15 p.m. today in Velva and the Bombers return to Berthold for a home contest against Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood on Monday.

Alex Eisen covers Minot High School, Minot State athletics and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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