Easton Benz reacts while the other players on the floor watch his three-point attempt. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
CARRINGTON — New Rockford-Sheyenne had lost its last four meetings with Carrington.
The teams, despite now being in different classifications, play a rivalry game every season.
Each of the previous two meetings came down to the buzzer. NR-S lost 72-70 last year and 59-57 the year before in overtime. Carrington’s Josh Bickett had the winning shot in both games.
With Bickett having graduated, the Rockets brought the rivalry honors back to New Rockford and Sheyenne.
“They’re a good team every year,” NR-S senior Easton Simon said. “No matter what they’ve got up for a team, they come in and they play us hard. And they’ve gotten the better of us the past couple years. So it means a lot to come in here and get a win early in the season and get some momentum going forward.”
Every inch of Carrington’s half of the gym was filled. Most of the visitors’ was, too.
“It was an unbelievable atmosphere. There was so many people in the stands tonight,” Simon said. “Even our fans, there was a lot of them there cheering us on. And it means a lot that people want to come out and watch both teams play each other. And it was a good win.”
NR-S (4-1), ranked No. 5 in Class B after a state appearance last season, beat the Class A Cardinals (3-6) by a score of 53-40 at Carrington Public School on Tuesday.
It was the Rockets’ first victory in this matchup since Dec. 14, 2020, when they beat Carrington 52-23.
“It’s a rivalry. It doesn’t matter the record of either team,” NR-S head coach Tyler Cook said. “When we come into this game, both teams want it so bad. And they’ve got on the winning end the last few times, and that’s why we really wanted to change things for these seniors, to go out beating them on their last go-round.”
Unlike last year’s 142-point shootout, offense was a grind for both teams. Carrington didn’t make a field goal until the 2:51 mark in the first quarter.
The Rockets didn’t have much going early on, either. A couple buckets by Simon accounted for four of their eight first-quarter points.
“They play in the A. They’re more physical. They play better defense,” Cook said. “We were expecting them to take the paint away, which they did a good job of.”
After eight lead changes, NR-S trailed at the half, 21-20. The Cardinals weren’t exactly landing a ton of shots, but they did a better job of finishing on their end of the court in the second quarter. Layups by Alec Threadgold and Maddox McIlonie gave them a lead.
“They shoot pretty good here. We knew they were going to make some shots against us,” Simon said. “So we knew we had to come in and play good defense, and the offense would come with the game.”
An 11-0 run to start the second half gave the Rockets a cushion. And so, for the rest of the game, Carrington had to fight from behind.
The Cardinals cut the lead as tight as three on one of three triples by Taylen Mehring, but they never caught up to NR-S.
Senior Easton Benz hit back-to-back triples for the Rockets to make it 31-21.
“The first half, definitely, shots weren’t falling. We couldn’t quite get going,” Simon said. “But the third quarter, we went on a run there, and guys were just making shots. We were moving the ball better.”
Carrington’s first points in the third quarter didn’t come until the 4:35 mark. Simon captained the Rockets as they maintained their advantage. He had nine points in the third quarter to finish with a game-high 17. He sent NR-S into the final quarter break with an and-one.
Simon also made a perfect pass around a defender in the fourth quarter to Shaun Reimche, who made the easy layup.
“He always has the ball. We’re very confident with him with the ball,” Cook said of Simon. “He makes the right play. Yeah, he scores a lot of points, but he made some great drop-off passes for easy buckets that we stretched, that helped us win the game.”
Benz and Thomas Allmaras combined to go 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Benz totaled 15 points.
Reimche also connected on a triple.
“We went with four guards — pretty much five guards, I guess,” Cook said. “And got our posts out of there. Tried to spread them out a little bit. And they got Easton Benz a couple open threes, and it got Shaun Reimche a couple looks with their post guard again. So I thought that gave us a nice little spark in the second half.”
Mehring’s 11 points led Carrington. NR-S was able to ride out the final few minutes luxuriously.
The Rockets secured bragging rights to this year’s 281 rivalry — and, in the process, locked down their fourth win out of five games.
“We’ve got a long ways to go,” Cook said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys on the team that don’t have a lot of varsity experience. Outside of Benz and Simon and Allmaras, the other guys haven’t played varsity before this year. So we’re learning. I think we’re getting better. But we’ve got a lot of things to get better at before we get into district play.”
Last year, NR-S won its first district title since 2009.
It’s changed the way the Rockets assess their goals for the season.
“That’s the expectation from here on out,” Simon said of making state. “Coming in early in the season, that was our expectation, to get back there again. We definitely have things to improve on and fix, but I like where we’re headed. And we’ve got some good tests coming up, so we’ll see where we’re at.”
