DEVILS LAKE — For the second straight day, the Nelson County boys’ basketball team fended off some late momentum to grab a win in the Ramsey County tournament.
This time, the Chargers made it a little less stressful.
“We played a lot better than yesterday,” senior Rider Schmidt said. “Our defense was solid. We ran through our offense. Just need to stop panicking with the ball and just be calm.”
Down 18-14 after the first quarter, Nelson County (4-1) slowed down a Devils Lake JV team that shares multiple players with the top-five Class A varsity squad. The Chargers went on a 15-0 run between the second and third quarter, then held on to win 65-56.
“Their JV probably doesn’t practice against the 1-3-1 too much. We play a lot of it,” Nelson County head coach Tyson Ackerman said. “I knew it was something where they’re going to shoot early shots. And they’re going to make them. It’s one of those things. But that 1-3-1 spurs our offense so well, we’ve got to stick with it.”
Devils Lake hit four triples in the first quarter to grab the early edge. Sophomore Egan Laite had two of those — he ended up hitting six on the night. Laite scored 19 in the second half to finish with a game-high 27 on the night.
But, for most of the second and third quarter, Devils Lake couldn’t get much going.
Nelson County went from down 24-20 to up 35-24 a couple minutes into the second half.
Schmidt led the offense with 12 in the first half and 21 overall. The Chargers led by as many as 14.
“The third quarter yesterday wasn’t great at all, but today it was,” Ackerman said. “We put together a full game. And chose to defend. And when we play defense, we can run that transition stuff that we like to run and get out and run lanes.”
Nelson County had some size up front with the 6-foot-3 Schmidt and 6-foot-6 Jaxson Joramo. Foul trouble had limited Joramo in the first half, but he got going on the offensive glass in the second. He scored 11 points after halftime to help the Chargers out.
“I think we’re the hardest-working team here. Our rebounding is amazing,” Schmidt said. “Me and Jaxson Joramo, we’re really good at rebounding, and I really like that about this team.”
Laite’s big second half helped Devils Lake get back within a single-digit deficit. Anthony Ironheart also hit two threes off the bench, totaling three in the game.
Schmidt had a key and-one, while Joramo made a put-back to help get the lead back to 10.
“We’re getting someone on the inside on all possessions,” Ackerman said. “We’ve been big for years now. So we’ve figured out how to use it. And those two rotate so well.”
The Chargers didn’t let things spiral like they had on Thursday, when they nearly let a 19-point led get away.
“Yesterday against Griggs/Midkota, they hit some big-time shots after the half. And we can’t let that happen,” Schmidt said. “So I think we did a great job with it.”
Nelson County couldn’t have drawn up a much better start to the season. The Chargers have won four of their first five games, and they’ll play for the Ramsey County tournament title Saturday. It’ll be the final of four games starting at 11 a.m.
They’ve been on the other side of things in the past, which makes it all the sweeter.
“This tournament’s all dictated by the first day. It’s a blast when you win the first day,” Ackerman said. “But I’ve played that 11:00 game on Saturday, and it’s a pretty sparse crowd in here. It’s crickets. You listen to the national anthem, and there’s not a lot of people. So the later you play, the more fun it is. … Our regional tournament is here. I mean, let’s get used to playing on this court, because this court matters.”
