Nelson County’s Rider Schmidt and North Star’s Ian Westlind battle in the Ramsey County tournament championship in Devils Lake. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
Nelson County got some revenge Friday on the first day of the District 4 boys’ basketball tournament.
New Rockford-Sheyenne and Langdon Area/Munich also picked up quarterfinal wins, while Warwick lost.
The tournament is double-elimination. It’s being held at Langdon Area High School on Feb. 27, March 2 and March 3. The top four teams will advance to the Region 2 tournament in Devils Lake.
Warwick (2-19), seeded No. 8, fell 73-40 to No. 1 seed St. John (13-7). Warriors star Anthony Touche Jr. had 22 points, while Brooklyn Abraham added 11. St. John had six players score at least nine points, led by Tayden Longie’s 17.
Then, in a rematch of the Ramsey County tournament championship. No. 5 seed Nelson County (14-5) beat No. 4 seed North Star (15-5) by a score of 69-58. The Bearcats had taken their previous two meetings with the Chargers: 65-57 in the Ramsey County final and 72-60 in their regular-season district meeting.
Taven Huso led the Chargers with 22 points in the win. Nelson County led 22-12 after the first quarter and managed to hold onto a double-digit win. Kade Mitchell had a big game for North Star with 27 points, but no other Bearcat had more than 11.
Rider Schmidt and Jaxson Joramo added 16 and 12, respectively, for Nelson County. Zane Anderson had nine points.
Nelson County will meet St. John in Monday’s district semifinals. The Woodchucks beat the Chargers last time they played, 64-54.
North Star will play Warwick in a loser-out game. The Bearcats crushed Warwick in both regular-season meetings: 81-30 in the Ramsey County tournament and 90-36 in the district contest.
In the second half of Friday’s bracket, No. 2 seed NR-S (17-3) won 66-34 over No. 7 seed Benson County (2-17).
The game was actually close early on, with the Rockets only leading 13-12 after the first quarter. They had a double-digit lead by halftime, then outscored Benson County 33-14 in the second half. Benson County scored just five points in the fourth quarter.
Layton Jacobson and Shaun Reimche each scored 14 to lead the Rockets. Easton Simon and Thomas Allmaras each added 10. Easton Benz had eight.
Aiden Rodriguez led the Wildcats with 13, with Grant Haagenson adding eight.
In the final game of the day, No. 3 seed LA/M (10-10) won 51-38 over No. 6 seed North Prairie (5-14).
The Cardinals trailed by 10 after the first quarter. They were still down at the half, 29-28. They went on to outscore North Prairie 23-9 in the second half, led by Levi Swanson’s 21 points and Eastyn Schaefer’s 11.
NR-S and LA/M will meet in the second semifinal game on Monday. Benson County will fight to stay alive in a loser-out game against North Prairie.
Benson County lost 67-44 in its regular-season matchup with North Prairie.
The games get going at 3 p.m. Monday with the two loser-out games, starting with Warwick vs. North Star. The two semifinal matchups will follow.
