Al Christianson/Special to the MDN Carrington's Trey Rosenau (21) takes a floater in a first round state tournament game against Stanley Thursday evening at the Bismarck Event Center.

BISMARCK — Every time the No. 4-seeded Stanley Blue Jays tried to inch away, No. 5-seeded Carrington had an answer.

The Cardinals (23-2) outlasted the Blue Jays (22-3), 63-59, in the first round of the Class B state tournament Thursday evening at the Bismarck Event Center.

“It was a tough game,” Stanley coach Kory Anderson said. “We just got gassed and really tired. We didn’t have enough depth to come out of it.”

Carrington senior guard Jayden Shipman got the Cardinal faithful to their feet early with a pair of 3-pointers. His only points of the game.

But, neither team could pull away from each other. The score was tied eight times in the first half with the lead changing six times.

Stanley’s Mr. Basketball finalist Wyatt Hanson ended the first quarter in style with a drive-by, two-handed dunk. The Blue Jays led 25-19 after the opening frame.

Six straight points by Carrington coming in the first three and a half minutes of the second quarter tied the score at 25-25. A floater along the baseline by Garrett Bickett had the Cardinals back in the lead 29-28 and he did so again at 32-31 with a 3-pointer.

Yet, it was more Wyatt Hanson and company that had the Blue Jays up 43-35 at halftime.

Hanson had 18 points in the first half on 9-for-15 shooting, plus six rebounds and five assists to trigger a triple-double watch.

“They started to double team him,” Anderson said. “They started to get a lot of bodies around him and they just made it tough on him.”

Hanson finished with a game-high 27 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Kaedyn Hanson added 16 points and eight rebounds.

Stanley maintained a double-digit lead throughout most of the third quarter until Carrington’s Kolton Vetter hit a triple, then Bickett, Trey Rosenau and Drew Page got to the rim for easy layups.

The Blue Jays lead was cut down to three points after the third quarter, 51-48. Carrington’s run of momentum carried over into the fourth.

Bickett, Rosenau and Payton Smith all hit shots to keep Carrington tied with the Blue Jays.

“They were just relentless,” Anderson said.

Stanley didn’t score in the last four minutes.

An up-and-under layup by Vetter tied the score for the final time at 59-59. Then, a coast-to-coast drive by Rosenau and made free throws carried Carrington to the finish line, 63-59.

Patten had a few looks at difficult 3-pointers late, but couldn’t bury any of them. He finished with eight points, but 2-for-12 from behind the arc.

Carrington had three players finish in double figures: Bickett (16), Vetter (12) and Rosenau (10).

Carrington advances to face No. 1-seeded and defending state champions Hillsboro/Central Valley (25-1) in the state semifinals. That contest is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. this evening in Bismarck.

Stanley drops to the consolation side of the bracket and will play Beulah (20-5) at 2:45 p.m. this evening.

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