Our Redeemer’s Jake Altringer turns toward the basket as Bowman County’s Trey Brewer (3) defends during a Class B state qualifier on Saturday, March 14, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. Mike Kraft/MDN

The traditional elixir when dealing with illness in the colder months is a hearty bowl of chicken noodle soup.

For the Our Redeemer’s boys basketball team, which has been dealing with a rash of sickness inside its locker room over the last week, that cure-all was a return trip to the state tournament fueled by a steady dose of easy buckets in the paint.

Just 48 hours removed from a nail-biting loss in the Region 3 Tournament title game in New Town, the Knights were back in the friendly confines of their hometown with their season on the line and delivered a decisive 73-39 victory over Bowman County in a Class B state qualifier at the Minot Municipal Auditorium on Saturday, March 14. Our Redeemer’s held a 30-point advantage in points in the paint.

Securing their third consecutive trip to the state tournament, the mood in the locker room was much more electric after the game compared to two nights ago following the conclusion of their game against Ray.

“It was quiet,” Our Redeemer’s coach Brock Teets said. “It was a very quiet locker room. It was a very quiet bus ride. These kids battled. It was a really good battle with Ray, but I’m just really happy for these kids. They battled. We’re going through a lot of sickness with this team right now over the last week and I had some kids really gut it out and probably really shouldn’t have been playing today. But when it’s do-or-die, they stepped it up and they really helped out. But we need to get healthy and I’m really looking forward to playing next week.”

The Knights (24-2) didn’t make their fans have to sweat it out, as they jumped out to a sizable lead early and never looked back. Our Redeemer’s led 23-9 at the end of the first quarter and 45-23 at halftime.

While the Knights have plenty of players who can hit from the outside, they did the bulk of their scoring in the opening half in the painted area. All but 13 of their first half points came from inside. Of the 26 shots they took in the opening 16 minutes, only four came from behind the 3-point line.

“When we’re moving the ball well, we open up the paint for some of our bigs and we get backcuts,” Our Redeemer’s junior forward Nolan Schmidt said. “We can flow off of each other there.”

Schmidt was one of three Knights in double figures by halftime, scoring 12 points on 6-for-6 shooting. Schmidt finished with 16 points..

Schmidt, Wyatt Weekley and Jayden Marshall accounted for 20 of Our Redeemer’s 22 points in the second quarter, all of which came at the rim The Knights opened the second quarter on a 14-4 run to build a 35-12 lead

“That’s where we try to get the ball,” Teets said. “We’re a team that wants to get the ball inside. I know a lot of teams are five-out, but we love getting the ball inside. Maybe I’m old school and we have multiple guys that can score inside. We move the ball and the ball finds its way into the paint and we seem to get open shots, too. It goes both ways.”

The Knights shot 83.3 percent from the field in the second quarter and 73.1 percent in the first half. They finished 31-for-48 for the game, with 23 field goals coming from inside. Our Redeemer’s also took advantage of Bowman County turnovers, scoring 17 points off 14 giveaways.

“We like our matchups and we knew it was going to be a physical game,” Weekley said. “They have some big, strong guys. We just played our game well, outside and inside. Coming into this game we had that mindset that we’re going to grind this out and now we have three more games to our name.”

Not everything came from inside, as the Knights connected on five 3-pointers. Payten Lindbo knocked down a pair and Weekley, Sam Zaderaka and Sam Knudsvig each hit one. The Knights got scoring contributions from 11 players.

Weekley led all scorers with 18 points. Marshall finished with 10.

Defensively, the Knights held the Bulldogs (20-6) to 16 points in the second half and just six points in the third quarter. Bowman County shot 29.4 percent from the field for the game.

“We were just trying to make a point,” Schmidt said. “It was a tough loss that we took on Thursday, but we had to come win this next one to get to state and prove a point here tonight.”

The Knights avoided the state-qualifying round last year by winning the Region 3 Tournament title, but this wasn’t their first experience with the do-or-die contest. They advanced to state in 2024 by winning a state qualifier against Garrison.

“Nothing really changes,” Marshall said. “We just have to keep giving it our all and it’s a do-or-die situation. We were just hungry after that loss and we just really wanted it today.”

Cansas Duffield led the Bulldogs with 15 points, hitting a game-high four 3-pointers. Jonah Njos also finished in double figures with 11.

With the victory, the Knights return to the state tournament for the third consecutive year and fourth time overall. They are the No. 3 seed and will play No. 6 seed Bishop Ryan in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, March 19, at 2:45 p.m. at the MSU Dome.

“It’s never easy,” Teets said. “Nothing’s ever easy in Class B basketball. It takes a couple bad nights and you’re at home. Proud of these guys and it’s just good to be back at state. We have a few days to regroup and get things done and get healthy and move on.”