×

Title quest

Minot High hands Davies first loss of season

Forum News Service Minot's Justin Engg (23) shoots over Davies' Jake Paper (40) on Friday night.

BISMARCK — A calendar year had passed since Fargo Davies boys basketball lost a game. After losing in the Class A state semifinals last year, the Eagles went undefeated in the regular season and were aiming to become the first unbeaten state champion since Fargo North in 2002.

But the Eagles made too many costly mistakes, and the defending state champion made them pay.

Two-time defending state champion Minot, the No. 2 seed out of the West Region, handed the East Region No. 1-seeded Eagles their first loss of the season 73-69 in the state semifinals on Friday at the Bismarck Event Center. Minot moves on to its third straight Class A state championship appearance tinght at 8 p.m.

“We have resilient kids. We’ve said that from Day 1,” Minot head coach Dean Winczewski said. “Everything we’ve gone through from kids being sick to injuries and everything else, we have tough kids.”

KyJuan Johnson scored 14 of his game-high 21 points in the first half. He added six rebounds, four assists and a game-high seven steals.

But Justin Engg was the one to lift Minot in the second half. He said he was making friends on the bench in early foul trouble and didn’t score in the first half. But the senior forward totaled 15 points and added eight rebounds all in the second half.

After the Magicians struggled in the first half from 3-point range, they went 6 of 15 (40 percent) in the second. Minot also forced Davies into 21 turnovers and scored 24 points off of them.

“I felt like I was overcomplicating things way too much in the first half,” Engg said. “We came out in the second half, simplified things and it worked out for us.”

Matt Veit stole the show from the beginning by scoring 11 of the Eagles’ first 13 points to start off. Veit ended the game with 18 points to go with nine rebounds.

Jake Paper recorded 14 points and 14 rebounds for a double-double while Braeton Motschenbacher added 15 points and six rebounds off the bench and Andy Baer totaled 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.

“We battled back down the stretch but we had a couple opportunities where we just didn’t capitalize,” Davies head coach Bart Manson said. “To try and crawl back in, we needed all those things to happen.”

Engg hit three 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half on Minot’s way to a 23-7 run, including 12 unanswered points. The Eagles got close to taking back the lead, including when Veit cut the lead to just two points on a 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining, but the Magicians made their free throws to advance to the state championship.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s a tradition that’s been established well before we got here,” Winczewski said. “We’re just getting back to what was expected out of Magician basketball.”

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today