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No. 2 Magi celebrate Senior Day with 73-58 win over Mandan

Alex Eisen/MDN Minot High junior Chandler Albertson (4) buries a 3-pointer in the first half Friday evening in a conference game against Mandan at Minot High School.

Senior Day for the No. 2-ranked Minot High School boys basketball team started with a scoring outburst of a healthy junior Chandler Albertson and finished with three points for senior Jack Ziegler off the bench.

The Magi (19-1, 16-1 West Region) only led by a point at halftime, but outscored Mandan (9-11, 7-10 WDA) 40-26 in the second half for a 73-58 victory in the final home game of the season.

“A tremendous second half effort,” MHS coach Dean Winczewski said. “Good things, especially to start the (second) half, man-to-man we got some stops and got out and made plays, shared the ball. Then, later in the half, we went to our trap (defense) and we were able to extend the lead.”

Albertson scored Minot’s first eight points in a fast paced, energetic first half. The Magi hit six 3-pointers in the first half, including a pair on consecutive trips from sophomore Alex Schimke to give Minot a 25-19 lead with six minutes left in the half.

“I haven’t played in two weeks, so I was thinking I have to just come out with effort and focus,” Albertson said. “I had a back injury and my hips aren’t working right. But, I got the chiropractor to get me back in the game though, so it’s good.”

Mandan freshman Elijah Klein gave the momentum back to the Braves with a thunderous one-handed dunk after spinning off his defender. Then sophomore guard Trey Wiest knocked down a 3-pointer the next time down the floor to cut the Magi’s lead to 26-24.

Wiest nailed another 3-pointer with a minute left in the first half to pull Mandan within a point, 33-32, at halftime.

The Magi opened the second half on a 16-4 run with senior guard KyJuan Johnson scoring at-will in the paint with three straight buckets down low and a 3-pointer by junior Peyton Lamoureux.

Johnson finished with a team-high 19 points, followed by senior Justin Engg with 18 points. Albertson scored 10 points in his hot shooting first half, but didn’t score again in the second half

Minot hadn’t escaped the Braves just yet. Klein started a 7-0 Mandan run with a three-point play, Issac Watson added a layup and Trae Steckler hit a mid-range jumper to cut Minot’s lead to 51-47 with 8:09 left to play. Steckler finished with a team-high 20 points for the Braves.

Engg pushed the lead back out with a couple buckets in the paint and then went coast-to-coast to put the advantage at eight points, 57-49.

“Execution,” Winczewski said was the key for Minot to pull away in the second half. “Doing the little things right. Going out and finishing opportunities on the offensive end. We left a lot of points on the board tonight with points in the paint and inside shots that we traditionally make. But, you got to keep fighting through that stuff.”

With five minutes to go, a 3-pointer by Mandan’s Camren Steckler had the Braves back in it at 57-52. But, Minot went on a 16-6 run in the closing minutes to capture win No. 19 on the season.

Helping along the game-winning run was Lamoureux saving a ball from going out of bounds, which lead to an Engg deep 2-pointer, and Johnson scoring five points off a step-back 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down and getting a fast-break layup.

Then, to end Senior Day on a high, Ziegler checked into the game with senior Bryce Bechtold in the last 56 seconds of the contest and scored twice for three points: A free throw and layup.

“I was a little tight from sitting (all game), but it felt good,” Ziegler said.

The Magi wrap up the regular season at Turtle Mountain Community High School on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Minot could clinch the regular season West Region title outright with a win over TMCHS, or a Dickinson loss on Saturday to Jamestown would grant the Magi the No. 1 seed in the West Region Tournament a few days earlier.

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

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