Jamestown — Throughout the entirety of the Region 3 tournament, the second seeded Ellendale Cardinals were a team on a mission, after falling to the LaMoure/Litchville-Marion Loboes in the District 5 championship game. The Cardinals (22-2) will get to do just that after beating the Linton/Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock Lions 62-49 in the Region 3 semifinals on Tuesday, March 8, at the Jamestown Civic Center.
“It feels really good,” Cardinals head coach Brian Vance said. “I’m sure they want another shot at us too. They’re a darn good basketball team and we’re going to have to handle their pressure which has been our downfall. We’re going to work on it tomorrow and hopefully we can come out Thursday ready to roll.”
The Cardinals opened the game on a run with Scott Wagner fighting through a double team to find a cutting Anton Geller who hit the layup to push his team’s lead out to 10-3 with 4 minutes to go in the first quarter. The Lions (13-9) put an end to the run with Trace King splashed a three to cut the deficit to 14-6 with 2:15 to go in the first quarter.
After the Lions’ Grant Bosch hit a floater over Wagner to cut the deficit to 28-17 with 3:20 to go in the first half. The Cardinals’ Mason Molan responded with a three to push his team’s lead out to 33-17 with 1:45 to go in the second quarter.
Molan said that his team’s ability to go on the second quarter run came from good ball movement.
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“I think just passing the ball around,” Molan said. “It really helps us to get the ball into Scotty and just allows us for kick out and draws defenders towards him. He’s a big target for getting points so it draws defenders near him and allows other people to get to the basket and get points for us.”
Despite the Lions opening the third quarter on a 14-3 run, the Cardinals were able to respond and send the game to the fourth quarter up 55-34.
The closest the Lions would get it down the stretch would be 60-47 before Wagner iced the game with a floater and drew the whistle to stretch his team’s lead out to 62-47 with 1:05 to go in the game.
Lions head coach Dan Carr said that his message after this one was with an eye towards the future.
“We lost to a good team,” Carr said. “I thought we worked hard. We lost to a good team and it’s a good start towards next year.”
The Cardinals look to book a spot in the state tournament at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 10, when they face off against the Loboes. The Lions attempt to finish third at 6 p.m. on March 10, when they face South Border.
EHS 62, L-HMB 49
EHS: 19 17 19 7–62
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L-HMB: 10 7 17 15–49
Points leaders:
EHS: Scott Wagner 20, Mason Molan 11, Levi Reis 8, Anton Geller 8, Jack Bommersbach 7, Riley Thorpe 6, Cole Sayler 2
L-HMB: Trace King 17, Jace Jochim 14, Grant Bosch 10, Justin Tschosik 6, Gentry Richter 2
Assists leaders:
EHS: Wagner 2, Bommersbach 2, Thorpe 2, Sayler 2, Geller 2, Reis 1, Molan 1
L-HMB: King 2, Bosch 2, Jochim 1, Richter 1
Leading rebounders:
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EHS: Wagner 12, Thorpe 6, Geller 6, Sayler 4, Molan 3, Bommersbach 3
L-HMB: King 9, Bosch 7, Tschosik 2, Richter 2, Landon Bosch 1
Region 3 Boys Basketball Tournament:
March 7:
No. 1 LaMoure/Litchville-Marion 62 vs. No. 6 Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter 37
No. 2 South Border 51 vs. No. 3 Griggs-Midkota 50
No. 1 Linton/Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock 53 vs. No. 4 Carrington 49
No. 2 Ellendale 75 vs. No. 3 Medina-Pingree/Buchanan 52
March 8:
No. 1 L/L-M 57 vs. No. 2 South Border 28
No. 1 Linton-HMB 49 vs. No. 2 Ellendale 62
March 10:
No. 1 Linton vs. No. 2 South Border, 6 p.m.
No. 1 L/L-M vs. No. 2 Ellendale, 7:30 p.m
