Al Christianson/Special to the Minot Daily News Ellendale's Brennen Vance (15) takes the game-winning 3-point shot during the first round of the North Dakota Class B state tournament Thursday at the MSU Dome in Minot.

When it comes to basketball in March, upsets are bound to happen.

It didn’t take long for the first such outcome to happen Thursday at the North Dakota State Class B boys basketball tournament at the Minot State Dome.

Ellendale senior Brennen Vance hit a 3-pointer from the right corner as time expired to give the Cardinals a stunning 41-39 win over the Dickinson Trinity Titans, the tournament’s second seed, in the first quarterfinal contest.

“We run that play everyday in practice for fun,” Vance, a 6-foot-3 guard, said. “Because we know we might need it and today we did.”

In the final minute the two teams exchanged the lead three times. Vance’s teammate, Lucas Hofer, scored with 22 seconds left that gave the Cardinals a 38-37 lead.

Following a timeout, the Titans countered with a basket from senior Shawn Stoltz from inside the paint with 4.4 seconds left, setting up the Cardinals’ game-winning shot.

“We tried to get the ball to Shawn and he had a pretty good look,” Dickinson Trinity coach Gregg Grinsteinner said. “He gave us an opportunity but once we got that play we needed to make a defensive play. Give them a lot of credit, they executed what they needed to do to get a good look. Games like this are why people in the state love this tournament, you never know what’s going to happen.”

After a timeout, Ellendale’s Luke Wertz caught an inbounds pass at midcourt. He then turned and found Vance in the right corner for the game-winner.

“It feels amazing,” Vance said. “We got the momentum that’s for sure.”

Early on, it didn’t seem as though it would come down to a last second shot.

The Cardinals played with tremendous poise in the opening quarter, allowing them to execute their offense to precision. Ellendale hit on 11 of 19 shots in the opening eight minutes to take a 16-8 lead into the second.

And Ellendale built on that in the early stages of the second. The Cardinals used a 10-2 run to build a 26-12 lead midway through the period.

“We’ve been running it like that for most of the year,” Ellendale coach Brian Vance said of his team’s offensive execution. “They’ve been playing together for a long time, and they know where everybody is on the court.”

Dickinson Trinity closed the half on an 11-0 run to pull back to within 26-23 at the break.

The Titans’ run continued in third period. Dickinson Trinity outscored the Cardinals 12-5 in the quarter to take a 35-31 lead into the final period. Junior Noah Sickler scored six points in the period for the Titans.

Ellendale, which scored in the opening minute of the quarter, got a much-needed 3-pointer from Vance in the closing seconds of the period to slow the Titans’ momentum.

“They went to a zone,” the Ellendale coach said. “And our kids kind of panicked and didn’t attack the rack like they did in the first quarter.”

In the final period, Ellendale got a free throw from senior Hunter White and a 3-pointer from sophomore Austin Molan to tie the game at 35-35.

Dickinson Trinity’s Aric Knopik added a basket to give the Titans a 37-35 lead, setting up the wild finish.

“We wanted to get a hand on the ball and it get it going back toward our basket,” Grinsteinner said of Vance’s game-winning basket. “All of a sudden, our guy had a beat on it, then lost his balance for some reason. Once he didn’t make that play I said, ‘This is not good.’ Vance didn’t shoot the ball well all night, but he had two big threes in the fourth quarter. He made the last play of the game, the one that mattered.”

Vanced finished with six points on 2-of-10 shooting. Wetz finished with 15 to pace the Cardinals.

Dickinson Trinity was paced by Sickler, who finished with 10 points.

“It was a physical game,” coach Vance said. “They are a good, strong team. They are one of the favorites. They are big and strong.”

Ellendale, who is making its first state tournament appearance since 1985, will advance on to the state semifinals this evening, and will play Hillsboro-Central Valley, who defeated Turtle Lake-Mercer/McClusky 57-32 in the second quarterfinal contest on Thursday.

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