Nelson County is going to the region championship.
The Chargers (17-6) kept their turnaround season going on Tuesday, cruising to a 69-51 victory in the Region 2B semifinals over North Border (13-11) at the Devils Lake Sports Center. They got 25 points from Rider Schmidt, 18 from Taven Huso, 13 from Zane Anderson and nine from Jaxson Joramo.
The current Nelson County co-op is only three years old, but the team is on the verge of making history for both communities. The Chargers need one more win to make it to state. The last time a Lakota boys’ basketball team made state was in 1976. The last time a Dakota Prairie team made state was relatively more recently, in 2009, when it co-opped with Tolna.
The only state championship for either of those schools was the 1936 Lakota squad. The title game was a 27-22 barnburner over Maddock.
Safe to say, Nelson County — or the schools that make up the co-op — hasn’t been here very often. The Chargers have now won three in a row since their district semifinal loss to St. John, which was a game they led that slipped away late.
They’d beaten North Border 54-47 in their previous meeting during the regular season.
Nelson County will get Midway/Minto (21-3) on Thursday. It was nearly going to be another rematch with North Star — but the Bearcats (18-6) lost in overtime, 70-66.
A day after squeaking out a three-point win, North Star came out on the other end of a tight contest. The Bearcats led by two at the half and by three after three quarters. It was 62-62 at the end of regulation.
Trenton Sitzer and Ezra Robinson scored 23 and 22 respectively, for M/M. Nolan Sogge added 14, including six in the overtime period.
Kade Mitchell led North Star with 25 points. Ian Westlind had 20. JD DuPreez, a day after his game-winning three, had nine.
So North Star moves to the third-place game, where it will play North Border at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. It’s a matchup of each district’s No. 4 seed. The Bearcats played North Border during the regular season and won, 60-51.
The winner advances to a state qualifier game at SCHEELS Center in Fargo on Saturday.
The championship game will follow. Nelson County, the No. 3 seed from District 4, will battle M/M, the No. 3 seed from District 3 (despite only losing three games all season).
The Chargers met M/M in their third game of the season. They lost, 62-50.
The winner of the championship earns an automatic bid to state. The loser will play in a state qualifier game in Fargo on Saturday.
North Star is trying to return to state for the first time since 2024, when it lost in the championship.
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