Much as he did one week earlier, Jackson Unruh simply loaded his Carrington teammates on his shoulders and carried the Cardinals to a key victory as the Class B high school basketball season continues to draw to a close.
Unruh scored 10 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter as Carrington advanced to the Region 4 tournament title game with a 57-45 win over Starkweather-Munich on Tuesday at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
Unruh and the Cardinals will take on top-ranked North Star Thursday for the right to represent Region 4 in the state tournament next week in Minot.
“We are where we wanted to be,” Unruh said. “We’ve played (North Star) before, but we were not ourselves that night.”
Unruh was himself Tuesday against the Magic Storm. After scorching New Rockford-Sheyenne for 12 points in the fourth quarter of the district title game last week, Unruh’s rebound and basket with 4:13 remaining in the game provided the Cardinals with some breathing room.
Teammate Devin Barton, who is scheduled to play football this fall at the University of North Dakota, missed a pair of free throws, but Unruh was Johnny on the Spot as he pulled down the second miss, dipped past a defender and put the ball in to put Carrington in front 45-40.
The Magic Storm would never recover.
Unruh added the next six points for Carrington as the Cardinals extended their lead to 49-40. He, along with teammate Easton Page, combined to connect on six of six free throws in the final 60 seconds to secure the win.
“Good things happen when you do things right,” Carrington coach Nate Monson said. “We were forced into too many mental turnovers in the first quarter or so. Once we eliminated those silly mistakes, then we were alright.”
The two teams traded the lead on two occasions in the first half, which also saw six ties.
But, when Page banked a short jumper off glass from the left side with 4:21 left in the second quarter, the Cardinals found themselves in front 20-18.
It was a lead Carrington would hold the rest of the way.
Field goals by Chase Monson and Jacob Nelson allowed Carrington to extend its lead to 24-18 with just over three minutes left in the half. The Cardinals would hold that six-point lead at the intermission.
Unruh’s 3-pointer to open the second half gave the Cardinals a 31-22 lead, which they would push to double digits when Unruh connected on another trey from the left wing with 5:29 to go in the period.
An offensive rebound by Travis Beck of his own missed shot pulled the Magic Storm to within 41-40 with just under six minutes to go in the game. But, S-M would get no closer as Carrington used a 16-5 run to close the game and secure the win.
Unruh was one of three Carrington players to reach double figures. Page finished with 12 points, while Barton, who also had a game-high 12 rebounds, ended the game with 10 points.
Travis Beck was the lone Starkweather-Munich player to reach double figures. He had 17 points for the Magic Storm.
Stark.-Munich 14 8 14 9 - 45
Carrington 14 14 11 18 - 57
S-M (45): Travis Beck 17, Brandon Hoffman 9, Lance Logie 8, Ben Tohm 6, Trevor Darling 5.
Carrington (57): Jackson Unruh 16, Easton Page 12, Devin Barton 10, Chase Monson 7, Jacob Nelson 6, Erik Collins 4, Kaleb Klein 2.
3-pointers: S-M 4 (Logie 2, Darling 1, Beck 1), Carrington 3 (Unruh 2, Monson 1). Rebounds: S-M 24 (Beck 8), Carrington 33 (Barton 12). Fouls: S-M 15, Carrington 9. Fouled out: none. Assists: S-M 10 (Beck 4), Carrington 12 (Klein 5). Steals: S-M 3 (Tohm 1, Darling 1, Klein 1), Carrington 3 (Monson 3). Blocked shots: S-M 3 (Klein 2, Beck 1), Carrington 4 (Barton 4). Turnovers: S-M 7, Carrington 7.
Records: Carrington 22-2 overall, Starkweather-Munich 16-8 overall.
