Minot tops Blue Jays

MINOT — For the first 10 minutes of Minot High’s 83-39 dispatching of Jamestown on Tuesday night, fifth-year coach Dean Winczewski didn’t see the most aesthetically pleasing brand of hoops.

Atypical turnovers coupled with a lethargic effort in the paint was enough to allow the Blue Jays to knot up the West Region contest at 12 at the midway point of the first half at Magic City Campus.

“There was a lot of silly decision making and a lot of sloppy boxing out,” Winczewski said. “We knew we had to clean that up.”

Did they ever.

Third-ranked Minot (3-0) went on a subsequent 18-4 run and padded its lead throughout the one-sided affair that saw five Magicians reach double figures.

Junior Colter Hustad, Minot’s sure handed 6-foot-5 post, scored 11 of his game-high 15 points in the first half. Sophomore Noah Bosh (13), Brandon VanDusen (12), Kyle Gerding (12) and Brian Bloms (11) also had a noteworthy outing.

Jamestown (0-2) didn’t feature a bullish post player to contend with Hustad physically and Minot took advantage.

“My teammates just kept feeding the ball down low,” said Hustad who also had five rebounds. “And when they started really guarding the post we were able to get (Bloms) and out shooters involved.”

Jesse Andrist’s 3 at the halftime buzzer gave Minot a 41-22 edge in what seemingly set the offensive tone in the second half. The Magicians hit seven of their 10 triples in the last stanza with Bloms connecting on three to help his club widen the margin.

Gerding was a key cog in that pursuit finishing with 10 assists.

“We share it. We don’t care who leads us, “ Winczewski said. “And we believe in our shooters.”

Jamestown didn’t have a player reach double figures as Alex McInnes led the Blue Jays with nine points.

The Blue Jays (0-3) visit Valley City in a doubleheader on Dec. 28.

Minot 83, Jamestown 39

Minot 41 42 — 83

Jamestown 22 17 — 39

MHS: Colter Hustad 7-8 1-1 15, Noah Bosh 4-10 3-3 13, Kyle Gerding 4-8 3-4 12, Brandon VanDusen 4-14 3-4 12, Bryan Bloms 4-7 0-0 11, Caleb Albertson 3-6 0-0 8, Jesse Andrist 1-5 3-3 6, Marquise Johnson 2-3 0-0 4, Jacob Holmen 1-1 0-0 2. Total 30-62 13-16 83.

JHS: Alex McInnes 3-12 1-1 9, David Hanson 3-10 1-2 7, Sean Lindberg 3-3 0-0 6, Scott Nelson 1-2 2-2 4, Lucas Keller 2-7 0-3 4, McKade Kleinknect 2-9 0-0 4, Phil Manley 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 16-53 6-9 39.

3-pointers, JHS 1-5 (McInnes 1, Keller 0-3, Ukestad 0-1), Minot 10-21 (Bloms 3-5, Alberston 2-3, Bosh 2-2, Gerding 1-2, Andrist 1-4, VanDusen 1-3, Halvorson 0-1); Rebounds, JHS 33 (McInnes 6), Minot 41 (VanDusen 6); Assists, JHS 12 (Nelson 3), Minot 26 (Gerding 10); Blocks, JHS 0, Minot 0; Turnovers, JHS 20, Minot 8; Fouls, JHS 15, MHS 15. Fouled out: None.

Tags: sports, jays, basketball