Four Winds earns title shot

MINOT — Collin Delorme was carried off the court after sustaining a knee injury Thursday night and sat on the bench as Four Winds-Minnewaukan closed out a win.

On Friday, Delorme helped the Indians reach the championship game of the North Dakota Class B boys high school basketball tournament.

Austin Longie scored 27 points and Delorme had 16 as Four Winds-Minnewaukan held off a late furious charge by Trenton and the Indians claimed a 74-69 semifinal win.

“I didn’t expect to play (after the injury),” Delorme said. “There was a lot of pain. I couldn’t get off the floor by myself. Now I’m feeling so excited about this win.”

Said Indians coach Rick Smith: “Collin is a tough kid. I thought he was more scared than anything. . . . Collin is a gamer. He doesn’t want to be sitting on the bench.”

In the third quarter, Delorme had eight points in a 16-4 run. That helped the Indians break open an 18-point lead.

“We were patient,” Smith said of the run that led to the big lead. “We moved the ball. We pushed it. We were getting easy layups when we kept attacking.”

But Trenton rallied, just as it had in a come-from-behind quarterfinal win against Cavalier.

Four Winds-Minnewaukan still led 66-52 with four minutes left in the game. But Trenton went on a 17-6 run. When Jade Bentz hit back-to-back treys, Trenton pulled within 72-69 with 26 seconds left. Four Winds-Minnewaukan iced the win in the final 20 seconds as Hadley Smith and Longie each hit a free throw.

“We make free throws and the game’s over,” said Smith, whose team was 12-of-20 from the line. “We got really lazy on defense at the end and we were impatient on the offensive end. And those guys are shooters.”

Said Delorme: “We always seem to have games like this — big leads down to nail-biters. We’ve had some like this.”

Four Winds-Minnewaukan started to pull away early in the second quarter. The Indians broke a 17-17 tie with back-to-back baskets from Ryan Hill on a screen-and-roll layup and a 15-footer from the right baseline by Smith.

After a Lane Huck free throw pulled Trenton back within 21-18, Four Winds-Minnewaukan scored seven straight, primarily by attacking the basket. Oliver Gourd III converted an offensive rebound to get the spurt going. Longie then scored on a short jump hook in the lane, an offensive-rebound putback and a free throw after he made a steal and was fouled going in for a layup.

Later in the second, a Smith trey from the left of the key gave the Indians their biggest lead of the first half at 31-20. Four Winds-Minnewaukan took a 33-25 lead into halftime.

Four Winds-Warwick also received 15 points from Trayvon McKay and 12 from Smith.

Bentz had game highs of 29 points and 11 rebounds, going 4-of-7 on 3-point shots. Michael Rademacher added 17 points.

Tags: class b, sports, basketball