Brandon Carr/MDN Our Redeemer's guard Zachary Hendrickson (20) races up the floor against Trenton in the first game of the Hoopster Classic held Friday inside the MSU Dome. Hendrickson scored a game-high 16 points in a 56-23 win over Trenton.

Zachary Hendrickson led all scorers with 16 points, as the Our Redeemer’s boys basketball team routed the Trenton Tigers 56-23 during the first game of the Hoopster Classic holiday tournament held Friday morning at the Minot State Dome.

ORCS (3-1) came out the gates slow to open the first quarter, as the Knights trailed the Tigers 10-9.

“It’s our first morning game of the year,” ORCS head coach Brody Bosch said. “We don’t usually play in the morning here, but the boys are just waking up. I know I was trying to wake up. Trenton probably was too. Can’t be too much of an excuse.”

An already slow-paced game stalled in the second quarter with a long delay due to technical difficulties as the shot clock lost power.

After a five minute or so wait, the quarter began with the Knights snapping out of their morning spell, ending the first half on a 17-4 run with multiple players contributing to a 26-14 halftime lead.

Our Redeemer’s hit the ground running in the third quarter — looking like a new team. The defense was more aggressive. The offense started to move the ball. Players were cutting harder and getting open while knocking down shots.

Hendrickson’s playmaking and shot selection were timely. The basic fundamentals of knowing when to dribble, pass and shoot opened the flood gates for the Knights.

At certain points during the game, Hendrickson put on a dribbling show that dazzled the home supporters by going through the legs, behind the back, driving and kicking the ball out to his teammates. Benefiting the most was ORCS senior forward Landon Lang (15 points) and junior guard William Sanders (11 points).

“We switched up some stuff defensively and got after the ball a little bit more,” Bosch said. “We put a couple of different press looks out there. We got them to turn the ball over luckily and started hitting some shots.”

The Knights ended the second half on a 20-9 run to blow the game open.

“Our goal is to keep teams under 45 (points),” Bosch said. “Today, it was 23. If we can keep teams from scoring the ball, I think we will be OK.”

The 23 points allowed was a season-best for the Knights.

Michael Martinez led Trenton with 10 points.

“We had to get our heads together,” said ORCS senior forward Cameron Abel, who chipped in with 5 points. “We got our act together over time. We had to show ourselves and prove our worth.”

Our Redeemer’s will have a quick turnaround, as the Knights take on North Star at 8:30 p.m. this evening in the Dale Brown Classic at the Minot State Dome.