Surrey’s Tyler Dalby goes up for a shot over Glenburn’s Ethyn Derr during the first half of a District 6 Tournament play-in game at the Minot Municipal Auditorium on Saturday, Feb. 21. Mike Kraft/MDN

The Surrey boys basketball team doesn’t care how it gets into the playoffs. All the Mustangs care about is being one of the eight teams in the District 6 Tournament field when it gets underway.

They will be after a decisive 75-35 victory over Glenburn in the district tournament play-in round on Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. The seventh-seeded Mustangs advanced to the District 6 Tournament as a result, where they will play No. 2 seed Bishop Ryan in the quarterfinals.

“There was a drive to win this game,” Surrey coach Robyn Vollmer said. “We feel like we deserve to be in our district tournament and going into this game, we had a desire to get into the tournament.”

The Mustangs (7-13) have become seasoned veterans when it comes to the play-in game, as they have made an appearance in the win-and-you’re-in contest each of the past three seasons when the district moved to 10 teams as part of the shift to a 3-class system. Surrey is unbeaten in those games, advancing to the district tournament every time. The Mustangs defeated Drake-Anamoose, 67-37, in 2024 and have now eliminated the Panthers two straight years, narrowly advancing with a 63-61 win last season.

“The play-in games are do-or-die,” Vollmer said. “You’re either in the tournament or you’re not. These boys work really hard in the play-in games.”

Surrey put up its second-highest scoring output of the season, topped by only a 76-point performance against Lewis & Clark. Tyler Dalby led the charge, pouring in a game-high 18 points – 15 coming in the first half. He accounted for 11 of his team’s first 15 points, helping the Mustangs build a double-digit lead roughly five minutes into the game.

“My shots were really falling, so that definitely helped out a lot and the shots were falling for the whole team after that,” Dalby said.

Isaac Mayfield netted the final six points of the quarter for the Mustangs, who led 21-6 after the opening frame.

The Mustangs increased their lead from there, knocking down three 3s in the second quarter, two coming off the hand of Treydin Vetter and the other from Dayton Kupser. Surrey hit six 3s for the game.

Surrey led by 30 at halftime, knocking down 16 field goals.

Its defense was just as effective as its offense, limiting Glenburn to just four field goals in the opening half. The Panthers (1-19) went without a made shot for the first 5:10 of the game before Kenyon Borgen snapped the drought. Quick hands led to steals, resulting in transition baskets and easy points. Playing with a large lead allowed Surrey to be more aggressive on defense.

“The defense was a little scrambled today,” Vollmer said. “We were a little out of position. I felt it was a little risky at times. That’s kind of where the hands came today. Today was one of those days where we could take a lot more risks. Normally, we would have to sit back and be in position defensively.”

Gavin Vollmer overcame a bit of early foul trouble in the first half to score 11 points. He was one of three Mustangs in double figures. Mayfield finished with 11 points to match Vollmer.

The Mustangs extended their lead to 59-23 after three quarters and led by as many as 42 in the fourth.

“We were just on today from the shootaround this morning,” Gavin Vollmer said. “We all knew we had to lock in today. We mostly just run the floor, box out and rebound and just push the ball.”

Surrey won the regular season matchup against the Panthers 56-31 and used what they learned from that game to mimic the results of the first meeting.

“We could definitely get to the basket easy and find some good shots when we swung the ball around, so that’s what we tried to do,” Dalby said.

Despite the previous success against Glenburn, the Mustangs didn’t take the No. 10 seed lightly.

“We don’t take any team for granted,” Robyn Vollmer said. “We’ve had nights where we’ve been really on and really off and maybe won some games we shouldn’t have and lost some games we should have won and you just can never take a team for granted.”

The Panthers dealt with a bit of foul trouble as Ryder Bloms was called for his fourth foul with 3:54 left in the first half and Addison Palmer picked up his third with 2:16 in the second quarter. Palmer was whistled for his fourth foul midway through the third quarter.

Daemian Braun led the Panthers with 13 points.

Now, the Mustangs go from playing the purple and gold of Glenburn to the purple and gold of Bishop Ryan in the district quarterfinals. The two teams square off at 3 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. The Mustangs are looking for their first district tournament victory since 2023.

Drake-Anamoose 77, Lewis & Clark 50

Drake-Anamoose kept its season alive and got over the hurdle that is the play-in round, ending Lewis & Clark’s season with a 77-50 victory in the District 6 play-in round on Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. The Raiders advance to play No. 1 seed Our Redeemer’s on Friday, Feb. 27, in the District 6 Tournament quarterfinals.

The Raiders led throughout, building a 19-8 lead after one and took a 49-23 lead into halftime.

Brady Hauff led all scorers with 21 points. Jordan Mack and Jordan Meckle also finished in double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Drake-Anamoose extended its lead to 69-40 after three quarters.

The Raiders won their first play-in game since the start of the 3-class system three years ago. They lost to Surrey in 2024 and Harvey-Wells County in 2025.

Drake-Anamoose cracked the 70-point mark for the second time this season. The first occurrence also came against the Longhorns in a 78-58 victory during the regular season.

Bently Kannianen led Lewis & Clark with 15 points. Sam Rensch and Tucker Lee each added 12.