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Last second win

Wetzel’s buzzer-beater lifts ORCS past Berthold 61-60

Mark Jones/MDN Our Redeemer’s Christian School’s Leyton Lang powers his way to the basket during the second half of a Class B District 12 tournament semifinal contest against Lewis & Clark-Berthold Saturday night at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. The Knights won at the buzzer 61-60.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.

On Saturday night, luck was definitely in the corner of the Our Redeemer’s Christian School boys basketball team.

After trailing their Class B District 12 semifinal matchup with Lewis & Clark-Berthold all night, the Knights got a basket from junior Jayden Wetzel as time expired, lifting ORCS to a 61-60 win and sending them back to the District 12 tournament title game for the second straight season.

Wetzel’s game-winner gave the Knights their only lead of the night.

“Sometimes the ball bounces your way,” ORCS coach Jeremy Feller said.

Wetzel’s game-winning shot came as he rebounded a missed free throw by senior Taylor Strand. Wetzel grabbed the ball in the right block, spun and hit the shot as the clock ran out.

“We feel in basketball there is more than what leads up to the end,” Berthold coach Chris Brown said. “If we don’t make those mistakes in the third and fourth periods, we aren’t in that position.”

Feller said his staff and crunched some numbers earlier in the day. And in 13 games this season, ORCS had an average winning margin of one point.

“We knew the importance of one point and free throws,” he said.

Early on, Berthold appeared to be well on their way to defeating ORCS for the second time this season. The Bombers defeated the Knights 68-54 on Fen. 3 in Minot.

The Bombers opened the game on a 9-2 run, which included a 3-pointer from senior Alex Nelson. Berthold extended its lead to nine on two different occasions in the opening stanza on 3-pointers from junior Reese Hennessy and senior Cody Hamilton.

The Bombers opened the second period with a 7-0 run to extend the lead out 26-15. And while the Knights cut their deficit to seven at 26-19 on consecutive baskets by juniors Leyton Lang and Noah Abel, the Bombers used a 7-0, including five points from Nelson, to push the lead back to 13 at 33-20.

“We struggled defensively at times,” Feller said of his team’s first half effort. “They did a good job of cutting and we weren’t in the right spot at times.”

In the third, the Knights made their move.

ORCS opened the second half with a 14-2 run to trim Berthold’s lead to 35-34. The Knights did have their opportunities in the third, as they missed a layup and were 1 of 6 from the free throw line.

The Bombers, however, were able to weather the run and push the lead back out to five entering the final period.

In the fourth, the two teams traded basket for basket. And when Hamilton and fellow senior Garrett Hanson countered with consecutive baskets to give the Bombers a 60-55 lead inside of two minutes to play, it seemed as though Berthold was on its was to district tournament title game for the fourth time since 2012.

However, the Knights would not be denied on this night.

Following Hanson’s basket, Abel countered with a 3-pointer to pull the Knights to within 60-58.

On the Knight’s ensuing possession, Wetzel missed a 3-pointer that would have given ORCS the lead with a 56 seconds to play.

Wetzel would soon redeem himself.

After Hanson missed the front end of a 1-on-1 for the Bombers, Strand was fouled at the other end of the court for the Knights. After he made the first, Strand’s second shot bounced off the rim to the right where Wetzel was. He grabbed the ball, spun and shot it as time expired.

“We talked about competing hard,” Feller said. “We were fairly confident Taylor would make his free throws.”

Hennessy finished with 17 points for Berthold, while Tommy Burke had 15.

Lang and junior Tayten Mau each had 16 points in the win for ORCS.

“This is the last time we can say that we get to bounce back,” Brown said.

Berthold will face Surrey in a region-qualifying contest Monday at 5:30 p.m.

“We always seem to start off well,” Brown said. “But when you are playing a team like ORCS, you got to play a full 32 minutes.”

ORCS will face Bishop Ryan for the district title Monday evening at 7 p.m.

The two teams played for the district title last season, with John Reiten hitting a near-half court shot at the buzzer to win it for the Knights.

Mark Jones covers high school sports and general assignments. Follow him on Twitter @MarkJones27_MDN.

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