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Adapt and survive

Rugby edges Velva, finishes unbeaten in district play

Justin Martinez/MDN Rugby’s Devan Michels (center) elevates for a layup while Velva’s Hayden Lee (right) patrols the paint during the Panthers’ 50-47 road win Monday.

VELVA — It took some in-game adjustments and a few bounces of the ball to go their way, but the Panthers made it happen.

The No. 4-ranked Rugby boys basketball team faced one of its biggest tests of the season on Monday, as the Panthers attempted to close out district play on the road against a resilient Velva team in a rivalry game for the ages.

When the final buzzer sounded, Rugby (15-1, 6-0 District 11) walked out of Velva (8-8, 3-3 District 11) with a hard-earned 50-47 win to finish the year unbeaten in district play.

“Velva executed well and played a really good game,” Rugby head coach Mike Santjer said. “They made it a close one, and luckily we came out on the winning side.”

Velva got the best of its rival in the first quarter thanks to some stifling defense.

The Aggies slowed down the tempo and forced the high-octane Rugby offense to work for its looks. The Panthers struggled to adjust to the change in pace and only scored a single layup in the quarter.

Meanwhile, Velva’s Colton Frankl caught fire on the other end. The senior guard splashed home a pair of triples to help give the Aggies a surprising 11-2 lead at the end of the first frame.

“(Velva) definitely had a game plan against us,” Rugby junior Trace Goven said. “Our game is based off of getting going, so they did a good job of slowing us down and making us run our offense. They made it tough, but we just had to adjust to it.”

With their backs against the wall, the Panthers came out with a newfound level of aggression in the second quarter. Rugby scored eight points in the paint and battled its way to the free throw line, where it went 4-for-5, in a determined effort to claw its way back into the game.

Now leading 17-16 with the ball and just five seconds left, the Panthers seemed poised to enter halftime with the one-point edge.

That’s when Velva’s Seth Fahy stole a pass at Rugby’s three-point line, got his defender up in the air with a pump fake and drew three free throws as the buzzer sounded. The senior calmly knocked all the freebies down to give the Aggies a 19-17 lead at halftime.

“(Velva) really knocked down some timely shots when it needed to,” Santjer said. “But we just tried to weather the storm in the first half. At halftime we weren’t too panicked because we knew we had 16 more minutes to play.”

It didn’t take long for the Panthers to reclaim the lead when they came out of the half. The road team began the third quarter on a 6-0 run and used that momentum to ultimately take a 35-30 lead into the final frame.

After trailing the entire fourth quarter, the Aggies made one last comeback push down the stretch. Trailing 47-42 with just under 25 seconds left, Velva’s Gage Florence managed to draw contact, get to the line and sink both free throws.

Velva then executed a flawless full-court press that resulted in a steal by Hayden Lee. The senior snatched the ball, made his way to the three-point line and launched a potential game-tying triple.

With the entire gym fixated on it, the ball bounced around the rim and fell out.

The Panthers secured the rebound, and Goven went the other way for a dagger layup to give Rugby a 49-44 lead with 15 seconds left.

Florence gave the Aggies one last bit of hope on the following possession with a clutch three-point bomb, but time wasn’t on their side. Rugby secured the 50-47 win.

Fahy led the Aggies with a 11 points in the loss, while Goven totaled a game-high 15 points for Rugby in a nail-biting victory that’ll only make the team stronger as it reaches the home stretch of its regular season.

“A (close) win like this is going to help us out a lot moving forward,” Goven said. “We have some tough games coming up, so it’s good to play in a game where you have to grind out a win like tonight.”

Next up for Velva is a home game against Max today at 7 p.m., while Rugby will travel to face No. 3-ranked Four Winds-Minnewauken on the road today at 7:15 p.m.

Justin Martinez covers Minot High School sports and Class B high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @JTheSportsDude.

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