The Knights and Lions met five times last season and the final three matchups all required overtime and all three saw Bishop Ryan coming away with the victory. Our Redeemer’s won the two clashes that ended in regulation.

No overtime was necessary, as the second-ranked Knights took care of their crosstown rival with the largest margin of victory in the series since the 2023-24 season, posting a 67-44 victory at Bishop Ryan on Saturday, Jan. 3 in the District 6 opener for both teams. It was also the Knights’ first true road game after hosting a three-game tournament at their home gym before playing two local neutral court contests at the Hoopster Classic.

“It’s such a good rivalry that’s developed over the last few years,” Teets said. “We’ve had some good teams and obviously they’ve had some great teams. They’re the champs. We’ve had some really, really good battles over the years. It means a little bit more because we’re in Minot. A lot of these kids battle together on the football field. They have a great group of kids and we have a great group of kids, so it makes for a lot of fun. I have a lot of respect for Bishop Ryan. They are a well-coached team and a very good basketball team.”

Barnburners have been all these two programs know as of late when matching up against one another, no matter the venue. Their previous seven matchups had been decided by an average of 4.71 points with the largest margin of victory being seven points during their regular season district contest last season. The last lopsided result in this rivalry was way back on Jan. 15, 2024, when the Lions walloped the Knights by 25 points.

Mike Kraft/MDN Our Redeemer’s Jayden Marshall drives to the basket in front of Bishop Ryan’s Justice Lundeen during a District 6 contest at Bishop Ryan on Saturday, Jan. 3.

Saturday’s clash looked like it was trending toward another down-to-the-wire finish in the first half as neither team could create any separation. The teams combined for 14 first-half field goals, nine of which came from behind the 3-point line. Wyatt Weekley paced the Knights’ offense early with 13 first-half points, including three treys.

“We were working our butts off for this week,” Weekley said. “Bishop Ryan is such a good team. We’ve seen them so many times. It’s so much fun playing against them. It’s an aggressive, high-energy game, so it means a lot.”

A 3-pointer from Payten Lindbo to close out the first quarter put Our Redeemer’s ahead 16-7, but the Lions responded with a pair of 3s by Izaac Strandlien and Gryphen Leier-Wangler to open the second and cut the deficit to six. Bishop Ryan pulled to within 21-18 following a 3-pointer and two free throws from Hayden Seay.

That’s as close as the Lions (4-1 overall, 0-1 District 6) would come to the lead as the Knights took a 25-18 lead into the break and came out of the locker room with a 13-5 run to build a 38-23 advantage with 3:24 left in the third quarter. The Lions defense held Nolan Schmidt scoreless in the opening half, but he poured in 10 in the second half to finish in double figures along with Weekley and Jayden Marshall.

Weekley led all scorers with 22.

“We started off really well,” Bosch said. “We were doing all the keys that we needed to do and then one run they went on we kind of got out of our responsibilities and stopped doing the little things and kind of tried to play 1-on-1. We gambled way too much and everything kind of snowballed from there. If we get back to doing what we do, I know we’ll be right back with them at the end.”

Schmidt was whistled for his third foul with 5:19 left in the third, but avoided a fourth the rest of the way and added six more points while battling foul trouble.

The Knights (5-1, 1-0) outscored the Lions 42-26 in the second half, putting up 21 points in both the third and fourth quarters. Marshall led the Knights with 12 points in the second half to finish with 16 points off the bench.

“Jayden was a dog today, getting all the boards and being aggressive down low definitely helped us out for the win today and every game we’ve played,” Weekley said. “He’s a dog.”

Marshall scored the Knights’ final six points of the third quarter to grow the lead to 46-30 heading into the fourth quarter. Marshall would add six more in the fourth.

“We look forward to the game every year and it’s really important to come out, play hard and get that win,” Marshall said. “We just played with fire and we were ready to go from the get-go. We wanted this win.”

Jake Altringer added six points over the final 16 minutes and finished with nine points.

The Knights did their damage in the second half in the paint with the help of solid ball movement. They made the extra pass to open players down low for easy looks at the rim, allowing them to grow their lead.

“The ball moved,” Teets said. “We got out in transition a couple times and made the extra pass. We definitely got to the right spots on the floor in our transition and when that happens we found Jayden Marshall a couple times. We found Jake Altringer a couple times. That was key for us in our runs.”

Our Redeemer’s led by as many as 25 points in the fourth quarter. After knocking down just eight shots in the first half, the Knights connected on 17 baskets in the second – 10 in the fourth quarter. Five Knights scored at least seven points in the victory.

“A lot of people think we have Wyatt and we have Nolan and everyone talks about them, but we have others and we use the others,” Teets said. “We don’t rely on just those two. Teams are going to focus on them, of course, but we have others that can hurt you. Marshall and Lindbo and Jake Altringer played a great game tonight. He was everywhere defensively. We have a lot of guys that can come in and knock down shots and do some things, so it makes us a little harder to guard.”

Strandlien was one of two Lions to finish in double figures. He led Bishop Ryan with 16 points, scoring 11 in the second half. Seay poured in 12.

While the Lions would have liked to have come away with the win in front of their home fans and start the district season on a positive note, Bosch said he’s more encouraged than discouraged by the result.

“We just need to stick with gameplans and we need to stick with doing the little things and being together,” Bosch said. “We did learn a lot and I’m more happy with that than disappointed with the loss.”

Both teams host South Prairie-Max in the next game on their respective schedules, with the Knights playing the Royals on Monday and the Lions matching up with the Class A foe on Tuesday.