Nathan Beitler/MDN Minot High junior Oakley Trueblood attempts to cross up a Dickinson Mavericks defender in their home game at Minot High on Tuesday night, Jan. 13.

The Minot High Magicians faced one of their toughest tests of the season so far when they took on the fifth ranked team in the state of North Dakota, the Dickinson Mavericks, at home on Tuesday night, Jan. 13.

The first half of the game was dominated by the Mavericks. Dickinson was the first to put points on the board, scoring eight before the Magi were able to make a basket of their own. The Magi put themselves on the board with a dunk by junior Oakley Trueblood. The Mavericks held on to the lead for most of the first half, with a brief lead change when Trueblood secured two free throws, giving the Magi the lead at 22-21. The Mavericks quickly took the lead back and kept it for the rest of the half, with the buzzer signaling halftime with Dickinson up over the Magi 32-36.

Seniors Boston Cranston and Cameron Wolf led the charge for the Mavericks in the first half of the game, scoring 11 points each. Cranston scored three three-point shots in the first half out of Dickinson’s four total. Senior Dylan Glasser was next up for the Mavericks, scoring four points for the team. Junior Oakley Trueblood was the score leader for the Magi and top scorer in the first half, totaling 17 points individually. Sophomore Patrick Shanahan took second on the scoreboard for Minot with eight points. Minot scored just one three-point shot in the first half of the game, as compared to the Mavericks’ four.

Trueblood punched in the first points of the second half of the ball game off of an early foul. The Minot senior stepped up to the line and was able to cut the Mavericks’ lead to two in the first few seconds of the second half. The Mavericks would not let the deficit stay small as they scored five points of their own in back-to-back possessions, widening their lead even further than when the half began. The Magi fought hard against the Dickinson defense, but a few lucky breakaways saw Minot take their first lead since the first half of the ballgame, culminating in a layup by junior Drew Jordan to put them up to 44-43. Oakley Trueblood was able to keep the ball rolling with another layup, widening the Magi’s lead.

The Magi seemed unstoppable. The Minot defense was able to keep the pressure on the Mavericks and force turnover after turnover. The Magi were able to work their way up to a 54-43 lead over the Mavericks before seeing any pushback on the scoreboard. The Mavericks slowly fought back over the course of the second half, ultimately culminating in a tie at 63-63 with just four minutes 40 seconds left in the game. Trueblood was able to quickly break the tie with a three-pointer from the top of the line, but the Mavericks took the lead back after two back-to-back scores putting them over the Magi at 66-67. The Magi took their lead back and widened it again to three at 70-67 with just one minute 38 seconds remaining in the game. With less than a minute left on the clock, Dickinson secured a clean three-point shot to put them over the Magi at 70-72. With less than 10 seconds left on the board, the Magi took possession of the ball, and a pass to Drew Jordan as he sprinted up the middle of the court ended with a layup to tie the game at 72-72. Unfortunately, the referees called a foul for charging, negating Jordan’s basket, and giving Dickenson to make it a two possession game. The Mavericks took to the free throw line, sunk the first shot and sunk the second one. The Mavericks were up 74-70 with less than eight seconds left on the clock. Fouls back and forth against both teams dragged out the finals seconds of the game, but the buzzer rang at the end of the second half, ending with the Mavericks taking home the win at 76-71.

Dickinson had four players end the game with double digit scoring. Cameron Wolf led the Mavericks at the end of the game with 19 total points on the night. Dylan Glasser followed up with 14 points, Boston Cranston had 13 points on the night and junior Nathan Stevenson also ended the night with 13 points. Oakley Trueblood led the Magi at the end of the second half and kept his spot as top scorer of the game with 31 points, his second game in a row topping 30 total points. Patrick Shanahan followed with 17 total points on the night and 12 points for Drew Jordan.

The Magi’s tough loss dropped their record to 4-2 in conference play and 6-3 on the season. Dickinson improved on their record to 5-1 in conference play and 7-2 on the season. The Magi has another tough game ahead of them as they head on the road, traveling to Bismarck to take on the Century Patriots. Their game will begin at 7:45 p.m. this Friday, Jan. 16.