Bishop Ryan’s Hayden Seay drives to the basket against Surrey’s Tyler Dalby during the first half of a District 6 quarterfinal game at the Minot Municipal Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 27. Mike Kraft/MDN

It’s rare to see a running clock in the fourth quarter when the winning team only has 41 points, but that’s just how dominant the defense was for the Bishop Ryan boys basketball team in its district opener.

The No. 2 seed Lions held seventh-seeded Surrey to a season-low 12 points on five field goals in their 52-12 victory in the District 6 quarterfinals at the Minot Municipal Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 27. Bishop Ryan didn’t yield more than five points to the Mustangs in any quarter.

“That’s just what we strive on doing every game,” Bishop Ryan sophomore Izaac Strandlien said. “It’s really hard to do to hold a team to 12 points, so it was a really good defensive day for us.”

The Lions (15-5) advanced to the district semifinals with the win and play Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood on Monday, March 2, at approximately 6 p.m. at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. Surrey drops into a loser-out game against Westhope-Newburg at 3 p.m.

Bishop Ryan’s offense was inconsistent at times, specifically in the first half, but its defense was dialed in from the opening tip. While the Lions rediscovered their scoring touch, they made life difficult for the Mustangs when they had the ball. Isaac Mayfield got Surrey on the board in the opening minute of the first quarter before going more than 10 minutes of game time between the first and second quarters without a field goal. The drought continued until another bucket in the paint from Mayfield with 3:50 left in the first half.

“Most shots were contested first of all and we didn’t give up many second-chance opportunities and that’s what we preach,” Bishop Ryan coach Broderick Bosch said. “Today, they really showed that they’ve been working defensively and took that to heart that we want to give up one contested shot each possession and finish with a rebound.”

In between Mayfield’s two baskets was 14 points from the Lions. Strandlien had eight points with a pair of 3s and Jack Passa knocked down a 3 and had five points during that stretch. The Lions led 21-5 at halftime, yielding just two points to the Mustangs in the second quarter.

Passa scored Bishop Ryan’s first seven points of the second half, as the Lions opened up a 28-8 lead. Bishop Ryan built a 23-point advantage heading into the third quarter. Gavin Vollmer got the Mustangs (7-14) into double digits with his lone field goal of the game with 2:09 left in the third quarter.

“We just had to box out and rebound,” Passa said. “Coach really harped on us about the little things and whoever wins the rebounding game really wins the game. Defense is everything. The defense starts our energy with our whole team.”

The Lions entered the game allowing 45.2 points per game. Prior to Friday’s performance, their best defensive showing came against Lewis & Clark on Feb. 16, when they held the Longhorns to 27 points. They held seven other opponents to under 40 points.

Surrey coach Robyn Vollmer said she’d never seen an offensive performance like the one her team endured against the Lions. It was by far the Mustangs’ fewest points scored in a game this season. Their previous low was 38 against South Prairie-Max in their second game of the season. Surrey was coming off one of its best offensive showings in the district play-in game when it scored 75 points against Glenburn.

“I don’t know if it was so much their defense,” Vollmer said. “We were just having a really, really off night. Every shot we took was in and out and we just couldn’t make a basket and sometimes you have those nights. I’ve never seen that before, but it happens. It’s just too bad it happened at tournament time.”

The Mustangs scored 53 points against the Lions in their regular season meeting.

“Last meeting they made a bunch of 3s,” Strandlien said. “They’re a great shooting team and we just stopped them from shooting 3s this game and that’s what really worked for us.”

Surrey made only one 3-pointer in the district quarterfinal matchup, coming off the hand of Tyler Dalby in the third quarter.

The Lions used their size advantage in the second half to pull away. Cohen Schneider – standing at 6-foot-5 – poured in eight of his 12 points in the second half. His first basket of the fourth quarter gave the Lions a 41-10 lead and started the running clock.

“They kind of had more speed than us,” Bosch said. “They’re younger and a really talented team with a very bright future. We did use our size advantage for the most part, especially on the rebounding.”

The Lions opened the fourth quarter on a 15-0 run. Strandlien added his third 3-pointer to finish with 13 points. Bishop Ryan netted 31 points in the second half.

“The second half was a lot better,” Bosch said. “We started moving off ball a little bit more and finding our big guys down low. If they didn’t have a shot, they were good at kicking it and we put more pressure on the rim with our guards as well. Things open up when you get the ball in the paint.”

Bishop Ryan nearly pitched a shutout in the fourth quarter, keeping the Mustangs off the scoreboard with less than a minute left in the game. Conrad Walsh scored with 50 seconds left to cap off Surrey’s rough offensive night. The Mustangs had just four players record points, led by Mayfield’s four.

Passa finished with a game-high 14 points.