Jaxson Joramo gets ready to play defense for Nelson County in a District 4 semifinal game at Langdon Area High School. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
LANGDON — The No. 5-seeded Nelson County Chargers were so close to appearing in the District 4 championship.
Instead, the Chargers will have to settle for a region qualifier appearance.
They had seemingly everything going their way on Monday. They hit some big shots early on, played their usual tight brand of defense and brought plenty of energy to Langdon Area High School. They led by as many as 14.
“We came out guns-a-blazing,” Nelson County head coach Tyson Ackerman said.
A lack of offense in the second half — just 15 points — ultimately doomed Nelson County (14-6) in a 48-40 semifinal loss to No. 1 seed St. John (14-7).
The Chargers only made one field goal in the fourth quarter.
“We had the lead pretty much the whole game,” Ackerman said.
Taven Huso, who led the Chargers in their win over North Star on Friday, provided an early spark. He had 11 points on three triples in the first half, with nine points in the first quarter.
His outburst offset a nine-point quarter by St. John’s Tayden Longie.
The teams were tied, 13-13, before Nelson County went ahead on an and-one by Zane Anderson. Landon Sundeen had one roll in, hesitate for a second, then drop in after the buzzer to make it 18-13 Chargers going into the second quarter.
A triple from the scrappy Huso, along with baskets from bigs Rider Schmidt and Jaxson Joramo, had Nelson County up 25-15.
“Our practices are funny — when we split up guards and bigs, it looks like two completely different practices,” Ackerman said. “I have a well-rounded team, is the best way to say it.”
After that, offense was a struggle for both sides. The teams combined for just five points over the final 6:32 of the first half.
Nelson County — one of the better defensive teams in Division B — limited St. John to two field goals in the second quarter.
“We pride ourselves on that,” Ackerman said. “We can play defense a couple different ways. Jaxson on the backside lets us play aggressive and physical out in front, and then he erases stuff at the back of the rim. We get out there and press. We’ll play a 1-2-2, we’ll play a 2-3. We’ll play full-court man — those type of things, depending on where we think our advantage is.”
Nelson County’s lead became as large as 35-21 in the third quarter. Joramo, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, had a block and a subsequent layup. Anderson laid one in, and the Chargers were rolling.
After Nelson County had been so good defensively for the middle portion of the game — three field goals allowed between the second and third quarter — the Woodchucks made three quick baskets late in the third.
Anderson got some momentum back for the Chargers going into the fourth quarter. He had an and-one to make it 37-29, but missed the resulting layup.
The offense situation went from bad to worse as the second half rolled on.
Nelson County didn’t score until the 3:29 mark in the fourth quarter. In the meantime, St. John went on a 10-0 run.
During that span, Rider Schmidt missed two free throws for the Chargers, and Anderson got stuffed under the basket.
Longie put the Woodchucks ahead.
“These district tournaments, it gets more physical,” Ackerman said. “And we were getting pushed off our spots. On the block, it was the same thing.”
Nelson County finally scored on a third-chance Anderson bucket. After Huso missed a corner triple, Schmidt went to the line again. This time, he went 1-for-2.
And that was the extent of Nelson County’s scoring in the fourth quarter.
“That’s not typical of us,” Ackerman said.
Madden Parisien turned out to be the fourth-quarter hero for St. John. He scored just two points in the first three quarters. But he hit a three to reclaim the lead for the Woodchucks, 42-40, then went 6-for-6 from the free throw line to close out the game.
Despite taking a tough loss, the Chargers still put themselves in a good position by beating North Star last week. They had lost to North Star twice during the regular season.
“We played them tough in all the games,” Ackerman said. “Huso came in and hit some shots. We played 2-2-1 pressure and a 2-3 zone so that they didn’t just run set after set after set on us. [Hunter] Hagler got in some foul trouble, and we finished inside. And that’s pretty much the difference.”
Nelson County can still advance to the region tournament with a win over Benson County on Tuesday.
The Chargers beat the Wildcats 58-25 in the regular season.
“Very winnable game,” Ackerman said. “And Benson County played well today; that’s no knock on them. They’ve got some big guys. That [Aiden] Rodriguez kid can get downhill to the rim. The two Herman boys play tough defense, and they’ll get downhill. Sutton Larson, he’ll shoot the ball and he’s a varsity player. So it’s no team to just look over, though. They’re going to come ready to fight for their lives tomorrow.”
Nelson County will play in the second game of the day on Tuesday, 20 minutes after the conclusion of the 4 p.m. game.
