It was likely to be a tough road.
North Star and Nelson County entered the Division B state tournament seeded No. 7 and 8, respectively.
Both teams lost in the state quarterfinals Thursday at the Minot State Dome.
North Star (20-7) played in the first game of the tournament and fell 85-60 to No. 2 seed Ray (25-1).
The Bearcats had their deficit as close as three points early in the second quarter and four points late in the first half.
The Ray Jays pulled away in the second half, gaining a 13-point lead by the end of the third quarter and outscoring North Star 29-17 in the fourth.
North Star got 23 points from Ian Westlind and 20 from Kade Mitchell. Hunter Hagler was limited to five points but had a team-high seven rebounds.
Ray was fueled by 26 from Ty Barman, 19 from Jace Becker, 18 from Blake Bergstrom and 14 from Brody Ceynar. The Jays came in averaging nearly 79 points a game.
The Bearcats will play No. 6 seed Bishop Ryan on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the consolation semifinals.
Nelson County (18-8) played in the third game of the day. The Chargers had to contend with No. 1 seed Central McLean (26-0). They fell 68-42.
Central McLean outscored Nelson County 25-6 in the first quarter. The rest of the game was decently competitive, with the Cougars outscoring the Chargers by seven the rest of the way. The early hole ultimately put Nelson County in too deep of a pit to climb out of.
The Chargers’ two bigs, Jaxson Joramo and Rider Schmidt, scored 13 and 11, respectively.
But the Cougars had four players in double figures and outrebounded Nelson County 34-17.
Nelson County will play in the second consolation semifinal game at 8:15 p.m. Friday against the loser of No. 4 Midway/Minto vs. No. 5 Medina-Pingree/Buchanan.
If North Star and Nelson County both win or both lose Friday, they would play each other Saturday.
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