Mike Kraft/MDN Ray’s Blake Bergstrom goes up for a layup in between South Prairie-Max defenders Ethan McCall and Jayden Huesers (4) during the first half of the Our Redeemer’s Invitational Tournament quarterfinal round on Monday, Dec. 15, at ORCS.

While there are no guarantees in sports, the closest instance of a sure thing as it relates to high school athletics in North Dakota is that the Ray boys basketball team is unlikely to ever be whistled for a shot clock violation at any point this season.

With 35 seconds per possession at their disposal, the Jays rarely ever let the shot clock tick under 20, running up and down the court at a breakneck speed, leading to easy buckets at the rim, open shots from distance and the ability to get to the free-throw line.

As a result, Ray raced out to a quick lead and never looked back, handling South Prairie-Max, 88-71, in the quarterfinal round of the Our Redeemer’s Invitational Tournament on Monday, Dec. 15. Blake Bergstrom led all scorers with 26 points and was one of four Jays players to finish in double figures.

“We played hard and moved the ball around,” Bergstrom said. “We were really unselfish. South Prairie was a good team. They were athletic and came to play. They played hard. They were good and it was good to get a win.”

The Jays (2-0) – ranked fifth in the Class B state media poll – relied on their starting five to provide the offense, pouring in all but six of their total points, including all 47 in the opening half. Bergstrom did most of his damage offensively in the first half, scoring 20 points in the opening 16 minutes. He knocked down eight shots from the field, including four from behind the 3-point line and added a free throw. Bergstrom hit back-to-back treys to give the Jays a 23-13 advantage with 1:35 remaining in the first quarter. Ray led by double figures the majority of the game.

“I was just shooting the ball good,” Bergstrom said. “Everything was just flowing and my teammates around me are good players so it helps when you don’t have to do everything by yourself.”

Ray led by as many as 17 in the first half and quickly stretched it to 20-plus early in the second half as the rest of the Jays’ scorers began cashing in on their uptempo offense. Jace Becker, Ty Barman and Brody Ceynar filled up the stat sheet, all finishing in double figures. Ceynar had 11 of his 18 points in the second half and Ty Barman overcame foul trouble to finish with 16 points. Becker hit double figures by halftime with 10 points and added three more buckets in the second half to finish with 16.

“That’s a very skilled team we just played against,” South Prairie-Max coach Jade Larson said. “They have a lot of different players that can score and that makes it difficult to defend. I thought we went a little deeper on our bench. I thought we could maybe wear them out a little bit, but it was too little, too late.”

The Royals (1-1) had foul trouble to contend with as well, as Weston Sauby was whistled for his third foul in the final second of the opening quarter and Luke Anderson picked up his third two minutes into the second half. Sauby is the team’s second-tallest player at 6-foot-3 and Anderson is the Royals’ lone senior forward on the roster. South Prairie-Max was already digging into its bench more than usual to contend with Ray’s fast-paced offense.

The Jays finished with 33 total field goals and six 3-pointers, while also getting to the charity stripe often. The Royals went 6-for-11 from the line, while the Jays were 16-for-18.

“I thought offensively we were pretty sharp,” Becker said.” Defensively, there’s stuff we’re going to have to sharpen up and rebounding is something we can get better at. That’s something that is going to happen in every game, but we have to keep improving game to game. We like to get running. That’s our thing. If we can get running in transition, we’ll do that all day.”

While it wasn’t enough to slow the Jays down, South Prairie-Max’s size and length inside gave them a bit of trouble on the glass, as the Royals had plenty of second-chance opportunities in close at the rim.

“We scored a bunch of points, but we gave up more than we wanted to give up,” Ray coach Michael Bergstrom said. “We had a hard time keeping the ball in front of us and we didn’t rebound particularly well, but we’re going to go back to work and get those things figured out. Offensively, we were pretty efficient.”

David Eberle led the Royals with 15 points. Jeret Eklie (13) and Will Rau (10) also finished in double figures.

The Jays advanced to the tournament semifinals on Thursday, Dec. 18, where they will play Trinity Christian at 6 p.m. The Royals will play in a consolation semifinal game the same day against Surrey at 3 p.m.

The second half of the quarterfinal round resumes on Tuesday, Dec. 16, when Central McLean and Tioga play at 6 p.m. and tournament host Our Redeemer’s plays Parshall at 7:30 p.m.