GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Just when it appeared Devils Lake had righted the ship, the sails turned south.
Grand Forks Red River, which led by double digits for more than 20 minutes, allowed that lead to vanish when Taylor Hoffart hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second half that gave the Firebirds a 56-55 advantage when he nailed his second trey with just over 14 minutes remaining in the game.
But is was virtually all Red River from that point as the Roughriders outscored Devils Lake 34-19 and went on to post an 89-75 win in the quarterfinal round of the Eastern Dakota Conference tournament on Thursday at the Alerus Center.
“We did a good job of battling back,” said Devils Lake coach David Bitz. “But it came down to the fact that we got outworked in the second half. We simply didn’t play defense well enough to win.”
The loss sends Devils Lake into today’s elimination round where the Firebirds will take on Grand Forks Central, which dropped a 56-38 decision to West Fargo earlier.
Devils Lake actually extended its lead to three on two occasions after Hoffart had supplied Devils Lake with its first lead of the game.
Ben Erickstad’s scoop and basket put the Firebirds in front 60-57 with 11:26 to go in the game.
Luke Schreiner’s 3-point play at 10:20 gave the lead back to the Riders. It was a lead they would never relinquish the rest of the way.
Red River grabbed an early 3-0 lead less than 30 seconds into the game when Tyler Thompson drained a 3-pointer from the right baseline to put the Riders in front 3-0.
Tyler Mertens brought the Firebirds to within 3-2 with a driving layup for his first two points of the game.
But, Red River used a 12-0 run to gain the double-digit lead the Riders would maintain for much of the rest of the night.
Schreiner matched Hoffart for game-high honors with 30 points.
Erickstad was the only other Devils Lake player to reach double figures as he contributed 18 points in the game.
Matt Lee and Tyler Thompson scored 19 and 13 points, respectively, to go along with Schreiner’s 30 for the Roughriders.
Devils Lake (75): Taylor Hoffart 30, Ben Erickstad 18, Nathan Mertens 9, Tyler Mertens 6, Brantley Light 6, Jacob Joramo 3, Calvin Crawford 3.
GF Red River (89): Luke Schreiner 30, Matt Lee 19, Tyler Thompson 13, Zach Soleim 9, Braden Battle 7, Alex Hickle 5, Dawson Hahn 4, Mack Arvidson 2.
3-pointers: Devils Lake 4 (Hoffart 4), Red River 3 (Thompson 3). Rebounds: Devils Lake 34 (Erickstad 12), Red River 34 (Hickle 9). Fouls: Devils Lake 23, Red River 26. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: T. Mertens. Assists: Devils Lake 2 (Erickstad 1, Tate Cichos 1), Red River 7 (Schreiner 5). Steals: Devils Lake 6 (Hoffart 2), Red River 3 (Lee 1, Battle 1, Hickle 1). Blocked shots: Devils Lake 3 (Erickstad 2, Joramo 1), Red River 2 (Soleim 1, Ben Hillebrand 1). Turnovers: Devils Lake 14, Red River 14.
Fargo North 73,
Wahpeton 49
Wahpeton came out of the gates with a strong showing and led the No. 1-seeded Fargo North 21-11 with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
That would prove to be the high-water mark for the Huskies as the Spartans went on a 30-10 run to close the first half to take a 41-31 halftime lead before going on to secure an impressive 73-49 win over Wahpeton in the first game of the EDC tournament at the Alerus Center.
The Spartans will play Fargo Shanley in one of Friday’s semifinal games. Shanley outlasted cross-town rival Fargo South 63-56. Wahpeton will square off against South in an elimination game.
Brady Bergeron led three Fargo North players in double figures with 18 points, while Colton Pettie and Cody Strom added 13 and 10 points, respectively, for the Spartans, who improved to 18-2 on the season with the win.
A total of 11 different players scored for Fargo North, which hit 54 percent (32-59) of its shots in the game from the floor, while the Huskies managed just 32 percent on 17 of 53 shooting.
TJ Kline and Ryan Smith were to lone Wahpeton players to reach double digits. Kline led the way with 16 points and added a team-high five rebounds for the Huskies, who were outrebounded 36-18 by the Spartans. Smith ended the game with 13 points, nine of those coming on a trio of 3-pointers.
Wahpeton (49): TJ Kline 16, Ryan Smith 13, Jeremy Bontjes 5, Nick Holkup 4, Carson Miller 4, Zayne Medhaug 3, Bryce Wetzel 2, Brandon Edwardson 2.
Fargo North (73): Brady Bergeron 18, Colton Pettie 13, Cody Strom 10, Peter Pitia 9, Nick Schultz 8, Nik Savageau 4, John Mullen 4, Casey McLachlan 2, Taylor Bosch 2, Trevor Braeger 2, Nathan Ross 1.
Halftime: Fargo North 41-31
3-pointers: Wahpeton 6 (Smith 3, Kline 2, Bontjes 1), Fargo North 5 (Pitia 3, Bergeron 1, Pettie 1). Rebounds: Wahpeton 18 (Kline 5), Fargo North 36 (Savageau 9). Fouls: Wahpeton 10, Fargo North 14. Fouled out: none. Assists: Wahpeton 3 (Kline 1, Bontjes 1, Casey Hickel 1), Fargo North 9 (Savageau 4). Steals: Wahpeton 7 (Kline 2), Fargo North 10 (Bergeron 3). Blocked shots: Wahpeton 1 (Medhaug 1), Fargo North 4 (Pettie 1, Strom 1, Savageau 1, Bosch 1). Turnovers: Wahpeton 15, Fargo North 12.
Records: Fargo North 18-2 overall, Wahpeton 1-19.
Fargo Shanley 63,
Fargo South 56
Fargo Shanley (63): Myles Montplaisir 21, Josh Rodenbiker 12, A.J. Jacobson 10, Josh Wolf 8, Dylan Dunn 7, Mike Jones 3, Kevin Buth 2.
Fargo South (56): Matt Wawers 12, Taylor Poss 10, Andrew Okland 10, Bradley Shaw 8, Jayme McGillis 8, Gabe Deng 4, Ronald Kazane 2. Frank Rutter 2.
3-pointers: Shanley 1 (Jones), Fargo South 1 (McGillis). Rebounds: Shanley 28 (Okland 6, Deng 6), Fargo South 32 (Montplaisir 9). Fouls: Shanley 19, Fargo South 15. Fouled out: none. Assists: Shanley 5 (Montplaisir 2), Fargo South 1 (Wawers). Steals: Shanley 8 (Rodenbiker 2, Jacobson 2). Blocked shots: Shanley 1 (Buth), Fargo South 3 (Okland 1, Deng 1, Kazane 1). Turnovers: Shanley 13, Fargo South 22.
Records: Fargo Shanley , Fargo South
