The No. 1 North Star Bearcats only lost one game all season.
Now, with the postseason in full swing, they’ve continued to do nothing but win. First, they won the district championship — which admittedly took a lot more effort than they probably expected, with a couple teams playing them down to the wire — but they’re still yet to lose a playoff game. They won the Division B, Region 2 tournament this past week at Devils Lake Sports Center, coming out with three more victories to earn a trip to the state tournament.
It’s their first state tournament bid since 2014, and the fifth in their history.
On Tuesday, the Bearcats beat Warwick 70-41. Dane Hagler, who won the District 3 Senior Player of the Year and reached 2,000 career points during the district tournament, led with 25 points. Parker Simon had just seven points, but Karsen Simon had 14 — fueled by a pair of threes in the first quarter.
North Star only led 30-25 at halftime, but it pulled away with a 23-7 third quarter. Hagler, who was held relatively in check during the first half, scored 15 points in the quarter.
That’s the thing about the Bearcats’ success of late: It hasn’t, by head coach Jesse Vote’s own admission, always been easy. But they find ways to win, and they pull away when they need to. And it can’t be understated how important Hagler has been, battling through some early-season injury trouble to carry this team with his offensive prowess.
The win brought North Star to a rematch with Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich in the region semifinals. It was the Cardinals who provided the biggest challenge for the Bearcats in the district tournament; they actually led at the end of the third quarter.
The Bearcats won in more comfortable fashion this time around, though, beating LA/E/M 57-37. Hagler had an off-night by his standards, only scoring 11 points, but K. Simon had 18 and P. Simon had 14.
And it was once again the third quarter that sealed the deal. North Star led 25-20 at halftime after only scoring eight points in the second quarter, but it outscored the Cardinals 15-4 in the third quarter.
So the Bearcats marched on to Thursday’s region championship, where they beat North Border 64-40. Hagler returned to his prime form, putting up 27 points in the win. His younger brother Hunter stepped up as well with 13, while P. Simon scored 12.
North Star allowed just six points in the first quarter — both via three-pointers. North Border had a better second quarter with 12 points, but the Bearcats countered with 17 of their own, all of which were produced by the Hagler brothers.
All 12 of P. Simon’s points came in the second half. North Star scored exactly 17 points in each of the final three quarters, getting a well-rounded win to earn the region title.
LA/E/M ended up losing the third-place game. So the Cardinals won’t be going to state despite the solid effort they put up.
The state tournament begins on Thursday at the Minot State Dome, where the Devils Lake girls’ basketball team recently won the Division A title. North Star has only won the state tournament once — in 2011. The Bearcats will bring their best efforts towards bringing the trophy back to Cando this weekend.
