Loboes, Lions advance

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With its lack of size, LaMoure-Litchville-Marion has to find ways to force turnovers in the backcourt.

In many cases, that means trapping rebounders, and it worked pretty well for the Loboes early in their Region 3 quarterfinal contest against Kidder County on Thursday.

L-L-M forced turnovers on seven of the Pirates’ final eight possesions of the first quarter, leading to 11 points in a 55-35 win at the Civic Center. The Loboes meet Linton-Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock in the semifinals at around 7:30 p.m. today.

“We really use it to force turnovers, and get it so the guards can’t handle the ball,” L-L-M sophomore Anthony Olson said of the trap. “It’s worked well. I like it, but you get tired.”

Olson was a work-horse for the Loboes, tallying game highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds. He also had three blocked shots and three steals.

“The same thing that makes him good at traps is the same thing in the post (on offense),” L-L-M coach Darren Thielges said. “He’s long, and he jumps well. He’s good about (scoring) on bigger guys. We need his post presence.”

The Loboes don’t have a 6-foot starter and like nearly every game, they were the smaller team. Yet the traps helped them rally from a 6-3 first-quarter deficit with an 11-0 run. Of the seven turnovers that L-L-M forced, four of them were on inbounds passes.

“We needed a jumpstart,” Thielges said. “The guys did a good job of deflecting passes and creating turnovers.”

L-L-M led 29-18 at halftime, and to extend that lead, the Loboes turned to Olson, who had 12 in the second half including six straight at one point.

Despite the win, Thielges wasn’t impressed with the perimeter play of his squad, which struggled at times stopping Kidder County’s penetration.

“I’ve got to give Kidder County credit; their perimeter players were more athletic and more physical,” Thielges said. “That was good for us.”

Jared Meiklejohn finished with 15 points for the Loboes (20-2), who won despite shooting just 33 percent (18-of-55).

Kidder County had two in double figures in Ben Steinolfson (14) and Cole Scherbenske (10). The Pirates ended their season at 11-12 overall.

Linton-HMB 55, E-K-M 41

Brooks Flyberg led a high-scoring first-half effort that saw Edgeley-Kulm down 42-12 at halftime.

The junior guard from Linton-Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock scored all 12 of his points in the first half as the Lions eased into the semifinals, where they meet L-L-M in the late game tonight. L-L-M beat the Lions 54-31 back on Dec. 1 in the season opener.

Flyberg said the Lions are a much different team since then.

“We’ve kinda gotten more unified as the season went on,” he said. “This has kind of been a rivalry the last couple of years.”

Flyberg had 10 points in the opening quarter, which ended with a 23-4 lead for the Lions. They had a 16-0 advantage at one point, not allowing E-K-M to score until Conner Entzi hit a short jump-hook with 1:35 remaining in the first.

“We knew we had to take it to them,” Flyberg said, “and establish the tone right away.”

Jonathon Purintun also finished with 12 points for L-HMB (17-5), which won despite losing the rebounding battle 39-34.

The Rebels showed signs of life in the second half, outscoring L-HMB 29-13 and trimming the insurmountable lead down to 14 points. Senior Logan Hanson led all scorers with 18 points for E-K-M (14-9).

Linton-Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock 55, Edgeley-Kulm-Montpelier 41

EKM 4 12 28 41

LHMB 23 42 47 55

Edgeley-Kulm-Montpelier — Logan Hanson 18, Tallen Berg 9, Conner Entzi 4, Chris Miller 4, Mason Madcke 3, Josh Foley 2, Trystan Harr 1. Totals 18-61 FG, 4-9 FT, 13 Fouls.

Linton-Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock — Brooks Flyberg 12, Jonathon Purintun 12, Travis Baumiller 7, Tyler Humann 7, Ryan Schneider 7, Mason Ryckman 4, Austin Bernhardt 4, Andrew Small 2. Totals 23-54 FG, 5-10 FT, 10 Fouls.

LaMoure-Litchville-Marion 55, Kidder County 35

Kidder County 6 18 26 35

LLM 14 29 39 55

Kidder County — Ben Steinolfson 14, Cole Scherbenske 10, Jayden Miller 5, Ryan Sand 3, Jordan Leier 2, Zach Six 1. Totals 13-47 FG, 7-10 FT, 21 Fouls,

LaMoure-Litchville-Marion: Anthony Olson 21, Jared Meiklejohn 15, Brady Thielges 9, Drew Thielges 5, Nolan Alber 3, Kenny Hodem 2. Totals 18-55 FG, 17-24 FT, 14 Fouls.

Sun sports writer Chris Aarhus can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by email at caarhus@jamestownsun.com

Tags: class b, sports, basketball