Yet, with the game on the line Thursday afternoon in the first round of the Class B boys basketball state tournament, Lizotte went undercover and Shiloh Christian somehow lost track of him under the hoop, twice.

Dropping in a put back and an easy layup off a perfect bounce pass from fellow senior forward Anthony Vetter, Lizotte scored on back-to-back possessions to give Ryan a 55-51 lead late in the fourth quarter.

No. 3-seeded Ryan (24-2) went on to win 60-53 at the Bismarck Event Center.

“I think they kind of forgot about me,” Lizotte said. “I saw that they forgot about me, so I ran down and I wasn’t going to miss that one. Then, I have been playing with Anthony Vetter for eight years, so I know when he is doubled, he is going to find me. So, I just had to go to the basket and he did the rest. And I wasn’t going to miss that one either.”

Al Christianson/Special to the MDN Ryan junior Ben Bohl (3) attacks the rim Thursday in Bismarck. He scored a game-high 18 points.

After losing 66-60 to Oak Grove in the first round of the state tournament last year, the Lions got some redemption and are headed back in the state semifinals for the first time since 2007.

“They got upset last year and felt like they should have won their first-round game,” first-year Ryan coach Jeremy Feller said. “So, they were hungry and down the stretch I think that showed. They weren’t going to let another one slip away.”

At the forefront of Ryan’s offensive prowess was Ben Bohl. The junior kept slashing his way to the basket and making contested jumpers to finish with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting.

“I just had to attack the basket,” Bohl said. “I wasn’t getting very good looks because they were pressuring us on the perimeter. So, we really had to drive to the basket, draw fouls and make free throws.”

Bohl had 11 points in the first half and the Lions held a 28-23 lead at halftime.

The third quarter saw both teams go on runs. Ryan started with an 11-0 burst, with Vetter finally putting the ball in the basket for his first points.

The Skyhawks (19-6) responded with a 10-0 run, as Jaden Mitzel, Macauley Young and Jonas Mitzel all scored to draw Shiloh Christian within two points, 43-41.

“He is going to get a few free ones,” Feller said about 6-foot-9 forward Young. “He is a talented athlete that’s close to the rim. I thought we worked our butts off on him. We had a couple slip ups. But, in 32 minutes, I can live with a couple.”

Bohl made a free throw with a second left in the third quarter to give Ryan a 44-41 lead going into the fourth.

A banked in 3-pointer from the top of the arc by Trey Brunelle and an offensive put back by Jaden Mitzel tied the game at 51-51 with 2:58 remaining.

Following missed free throws by forwards Vetter and Young, Lizotte made his presence felt in a big way.

“Down the stretch different people contributed,” Feller said. “Lizotte had huge baskets with those two he put down for us. Vetter came up big and Ben was Ben.”

Bohl added: “Jacob Lizotte’s two layups at the end, those were big for us. It’s always great to see your teammates play their role and play as a team.”

Vetter connected on a turnaround in the lane to negate a jumper made by Brunelle, and free throws made by Caden Shean and Mason Hedberg closed out Ryan’s 60-53 win.

Hedberg finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, Shean had eight points and six rebounds and Vetter recovered after not scoring in the first half with eight points after halftime.

The Lions shot 45.1 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Skyhawks, 34-30.

Ryan takes on No. 2-seeded St. John (24-1) in the state semifinals at 6:30 p.m. this evening at the Bismarck Event Center.

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