At 6-feet, 6-inches tall and weighing a tad more than 270 pounds, Carrington’s Devin Barton is certain to get his share of points against his prep counterparts, who are considerably shorter and smaller than the CHS senior standout.
But when a CHS teammate catches fire, it often spells doom for Cardinal opponents.
Such was the case Tuesday as Jackson Unruh netted 12 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter the to fuel a furious comeback as Carrington broke open an otherwise tight game to defeat New Rockford-Sheyenne 49-45 to claim the District 7 tournament title at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
Carrington, ranked No. 7 in the final state Class B poll, will take a 20-2 record into the Region 4 tournament, which gets under way Monday at the Devils Lake Sports Center. The Rockets will also advance to the region tournament with an 18-4 season mark.
“A tale of two halves,” Carrington coach Nate Monson said of Unruh’s performance in the title game. “In the first half he was fading away and in the fourth quarter he started to really go to the rim … that was the difference.”
Unruh’s free throw to start the fourth quarter brought the two teams into a 29-29 tie with 7:24 left in the game. He went on to score the next five points as Carrington extended its lead to 34-31 and added two more baskets on successive trips down the floor. His final points of the streak – and the game, gave the Cardinals a 41-31 advantage with 3:56 remaining.
It appeared that was end of the night for the Rockets, but as in the words of famed football announcer Lee Corso, “not so fast, my friend.”
New Rockford-Sheyenne’s Brett Allmaras scored five points to fuel NR-S’ comeback bid in the closing moments. The Rockets outscored Carrington 14-8 in the final 2:48 and managed to close to within 43-39 with and a basket by Dalton Weber with 1:33 left, but the Rockets would get no closer the rest of the way.
Barton also had a big second half after picking up two fouls in the first half and sitting on the bench for much of the third period after picking up his third personal.
“The games we’ve lost were the games (Barton) was in foul trouble,” added Monson, who was selected as the District 7 coach of the year. “But, that kind of helped us (Tuesday) as he was fresh in the fourth quarter.”
Barton scored a pair of field goals and was good on two of four free throws over the final eight minutes to finish with 11 points of his own.
New Rockford-Sheyenne led by as many as six points twice in the first half. The Rockets used a 9-3 run to break an 8-8 tie with just over three minutes remaining in the first quarter when Allmaras started the run with a short jumper in the lane. It ended when Allmaras utilized a nifty stutter step and then flew by a Carrington defender to lay the ball in for a 17-1 advantage with 3:39 left in the second period.
The Rockets matched that advantage less than 30 seconds later when Guler used a floating one-hander in the paint to put NR-S back in front 19-13.
But Carrington regrouped in time to take a 20-19 lead after Klein’s 3-pointer and baskets by Collins and Unruh, his coming with 41 seconds left in the half.
A pair of free throws by Guler with 28 seconds left provided the 21-20 NR-S halftime advantage.
“They do all the things we wish we could do,” Monson said of New Rockford-Sheyenne. “They penetrate, they dish and they finish. We can’t even practice the things they do because we don’t have those types of players.”
NR-S 12 9 8 16 – 45
Carrington 8 12 8 21 – 49
NR-S (45): Brett Allmaras 16, Stephen Guler 13, Jordan Seiler 6, Dalton Weber 5, Nathan Messner 5.
Carrington (49): Jackson Unruh 20, Devin Barton 11, Eric Collins 7, Easton Page 5, Kaleb Klein 3, Chase Monson 3.
All-Tournament Team
Carrington: Devin Barton, Kaleb Klein. Harvey: Kevin Walsh. Lakota-Adams-Edmore: Seth Kuchar, New Rockford-Sheyenne: Brett Allmaras, Stephen Guler. Warwick: Melvin Langstaff, Mitchell Owlboy. Wells County: Kelby Houchin, Logan Neumiller.
Region 4 Tournament Schedule
(Devils Lake Sports Center)
Monday, March 8
Carrington vs. Minnewaukan-Leeds – 3 p.m.
Munich-Starkweather vs. Wells County – 4:30 p.m.
New Rockford-Sheyenne vs. Langdon – 6 p.m.
North Star vs. Warwick – 7:30 p.m.
