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JAMESTOWN — The final game of the first day of the 2023 Stutsman County Boys Basketball Tournament continued the trend of tight games, as the Edgeley/Kulm-Montpelier Rebels got a 54-48 win over the Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter Imperials on Thursday, Dec. 5, at the Jamestown Civic Center.
The game was not always tight though as the Rebels (2-1) started the game up 11-2 but the Imperials (1-4) cut it to 11-8 on a Trenton Erbele stop and pop jumper. A few minutes later though the Rebels pushed the lead out to 18-8.
“I thought we had a really good start, especially the first quarter,” Rebels head coach Kevin Strobel said. “We got out up to an 8-0, 10-0 start to the game. There isn’t a coach in the state that wouldn’t be happy with that. So, I thought we had a good start, the second quarter we weren’t quite as sharp. They did a better job of attacking, the second quarter.”
After the Rebels lead ballooned to 24-12, the Imperials went on a 15-3 run over the course of the rest of the second quarter punctuated by a Trevor Moos layup at the first half buzzer to tie the game up at 27.
“We’ve got a lot of great athletes out here and we really like to play with some speed and once we got going a little bit, the kids really started feeling good and we fed off that energy,” Imperials head coach Drew Pike said. “We ended up closing a 10 point gap and going into halftime tied, which that speed really benefited us and something that we needed to continue to do in the second half.”
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The team traded points in the third quarter, with the Rebels taking an early 37-35 lead but the Imperials responded to send the game into the final quarter tied at 37. In a frenetic moment of action the teams traded the lead in the fourth quarter as Erbele hit a basket to push his team in front 45-44 before the Rebels immediately responded with a bucket of their own to go up 46-45 with 3:30 to go in the game. The Rebels would never trail again on their way to the win.
The Rebels got the win without sophomore guard Joe Kramlich who missed the game due to a prior engagement.
“He’s got another commitment,” Strobel said. “It’s a football commitment that he commited to actually before the season even started. It’s big, he’s our point guard and he’s kind of our guy up front that starts our defense with a lot of ball pressure. He’s a good athlete but it was kind of good to have someone else run the point for a while and get some other guys in some different roles. So, I’m hoping in the long run it’s going to make us a better team.”
The Rebels return to the court at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 6, when they take on Medina/Pingree-Buchanan. The Imperials look to get back on the right track at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 6, when they take on Griggs-Midkota.
N/G-S 48, E/K-M 54
N/G-S: 10 17 10 11-48
E/K-M: 18 9 10 17–54
Points leaders:
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N/G-S: Trenton Erbele 15, Trevor Moos 11, Eli Ketterling 8, Tristan Schaefer 8
E/K-M: Jacob Nitschke 21, Braeden Kinzler 10, Dylan Carlson 9, Zeke Barnick 9
Assists leaders:
N/G-S: Schafer 3, Erbele 2, Moos 1, Ketterling 1, Braxton Ryum 1
E/K-M: Barnick 4, Nitschke 3, Dylan Carlson 2, Austin Strobel 2
Leading rebounders:
N/G-S: Erbele 8, Moos 5, Schafer 4
E/K-M: Nitschke 10, Barnick 6, Kinzler 5
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Full bracket below:
Day One Games:
D-5 No. 1 Ellendale 61 vs. D-6 No. 4 Kidder County 35
D-6 No. 2 South Border 50 vs. D-5 No. 3 Carrington 39
D-6 No. 1 Medina/Pingree-Buchanan 45 vs. D-5 No. 4. Griggs-Midkota 39,
D-5 No. 2 Edgeley/Kulm-Montpelier 54 vs. D-6 No. 3 Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter 48
Day Two Games:
D-6 No. 4 Kidder County vs. D-5 No. 3 Carrington, 3 p.m.
D-5 No. 5 Griggs-Midkota vs. D-6 No. 3 Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter, 4:30 p.m.
D-5 No. 1 Ellendale vs. D-6 No. 2 South Border, 6 p.m.
D-6 No. 1 Medina/Pingree-Buchanan vs. D-5 No. 2 Edgeley/Kulm-Montpelier, 7:30 p.m.
