Members of the TGU boys basketball team celebrate after Brock Lunde’s buzzer-beating layup at the end of a regional qualifier at the District 6 Tournament on Tuesday, March 3, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. Mike Kraft/MDN

TGU boys basketball head coach Billy Seright is still a few days away from celebrating his birthday, but Brock Lunde and the Titans gave him an early present in the form of the unlikeliest of finishes in his coaching career.

With three seconds left in regulation of a tied game and the Titans defending the inbounds at half court, Lunde picked off a pass intended for Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood’s Reid Morlock and converted the ensuing layup as the horn sounded to send TGU to the Region 3 Tournament with a 49-47 victory over the Mustangs on Tuesday, March 3, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium.

“I just thought that Morlock was going to go off and get the ball, so I stole it and scored it,” Lunde said. “I just went up with the ball and made it.”

Lunde’s game-winning layup capped off a chaotic final 95 seconds, with both teams having an opportunity to win the game. The Mavericks overcame a 16-point deficit late in the second quarter and took a 47-45 lead with 1:35 left on a bucket from Morlock. Lunde tied the game at 47 with a pair of free throws before M-L-S had the first opportunity to win the game with 23.3 seconds left and the shot clock turned off.

TGU’s defense rose to the occasion, with Sage Hanson coming up with a block, giving the Titans (18-4) possession with 3.4 seconds left and the ball at half court coming out of a timeout. However, the Titans wouldn’t get a shot off as Hanson stepped out of bounds while catching the inbounds pass, giving the ball back to M-L-S, only for it to result in the turnover that led to Lunde’s heroics.

“Brock is a fantastic athlete,” Seright said. “He’s strong and fast and quick. We’ve been on him all year to defend and to be the guy that he can be and defend and rebound like that and beat people because he’s a better athlete and he did tonight. To make that play at the end, it’s fantastic for Brock, fantastic for the Titans.”

While Lunde played the role of hero, no one on the court was happier not to see overtime than Hanson, who played the entirety of the final two games, knowing that a loss in either of those contests would result in the end to his high school career.

“I really did not want overtime,” Hanson said. “Back-to-back games playing the whole game, I’m giving it my all trying to get every rebound. It really made my day not to see overtime and have us win that game. We weren’t expecting anything crazy, but lo and behold, Brock Lunde comes up with a huge steal for us. I was overjoyed. I didn’t even know what to do. I was on a different planet.”

Hanson shouldered the load for the Titans offensively, especially in the first half. A night after recording 37 points in the Titans’ victory over Drake-Anamoose in a loser-out contest, Hanson netted a game-high 29 points, with 21 coming in the opening 16 minutes.

The 6-foot-9 senior forward and University of North Dakota commit scored TGU’s first 13 points, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers in the process. He scored 17 of the TGU’s first 19 points, with Ethen Zimmerman providing the other basket during that stretch.

“In the first half, it was getting the ball inside,” Hanson said. “We were able to just throw it up. They can’t defend me when I have the ball up high. I just put it in the hoop and that’s what worked early on. I was able to hit my 3-point shots, so that stretched them out a little bit.”

The Titans led 26-10 midway through the second quarter before the Mavericks started chipping away. Morlock and Grady Nett hit 3s as part of a 11-2 run to close out the half, pulling within 28-21.

Nett hit back-to-back buckets to open the second half to get the Mavericks back to within a possession of tying the game. The Titans would stretch the lead back to double digits late in the third quarter, fueled by a 8-0 run, getting 3s from Lunde and Hanson.

TGU (14-8) led 44-34 entering the fourth quarter, but were running on fumes, scoring just one point through the first 6:30 of the final frame. Lunde’s layup at the buzzer was the only field goal the Titans made over the final eight minutes. The Mavericks held Hanson to just one point in the fourth.

“We were gassed,” Seright said. “We don’t have the greatest depth in the world and I could tell Sage was dead tired out there. He was having a hard time even hanging on to the ball. I was very concerned, but whenever you have Sage on your team and the way Brock was playing, Ethen can do things in those moments as well. He’s long and athletic. I wasn’t thinking that all hope was lost, but I was concerned.”

Eli Undlin had eight points in the quarter for the Mavericks, hitting a 3-pointer with 5:03 left to pull M-L-S to within 45-43. They would tie the game on a pair of free throws with 3:39 remaining.

Lunde’s buzzer-beater brought TGU’s District 6 Tournament experience full circle. The Titans lost their quarterfinal round game to Velva on a last-second shot by Luke Selzler, only to advance to the region tournament on a buzzer-beater of their own.

“I feel like it’s God coming back to our side,” Hanson said. “First, we gave up that buzzer-beater and I felt like we deserved one back and we got one back and it was great to end on that. We started on the lowest of lows and ended on the highest of highs.”

Lunde finished with 11 points. Morlock and Undlin both had 13 for the Mavericks.

For Seright, he already has his birthday plans set.

“For me, the celebration is to go back to work,” Seright said. “My birthday is on March 7th and I think I was born to be coaching at tournament time. For me, this is an excellent birthday present. I’m going to be celebrating by studying some film.”

Aggies cruise past Surrey to advance to regional tournament

Velva is heading back to the Region 3 Tournament for the second time in as many years after a 72-30 victory over Surrey in a regional qualifier at the District 6 Tournament on Tuesday, March 3, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium.

Wes Nickelson and Cooper Kittleson led the Aggies (12-10) with 15 points each and Mason Kraft added 13. Velva jumped out to a 24-4 lead after the first quarter and took a 42-20 lead in the half. They stretched their lead to 52-29 at the end of the third before closing it out in the fourth to return to the region tournament.

Gavin Vollmer led the Mustangs (8-15) with 11 points. Bennett Nelson joined him in double figures with 10 points. Surrey was fresh off its first win in the district tournament since 2023. They had lost in the quarterfinal and consolation game each of the last two years after winning play-in games to get into the field.

The Aggies will be the No. 3 seed out of District 6 in the region tournament.