The North Star Bearcats came so close to winning the second state championship in their history.
North Star was really the team to beat in Division B all season long. The Bearcats won the Ramsey County Tournament in Devils Lake, then continued their undefeated stretch until a loss to a Division A school, Hillsboro/Central Valley, on Jan. 26.
Despite the loss, North Star wound up finishing the regular season undefeated in district and region play. The Bearcats were chasing Bowman County for No. 1 honors during most of the season, but they overtook the top spot in the final weeks. They entered the postseason with a record of 17-1 overall, 11-0 in Region 2 play and 8-0 in District 3 play.
And they got through the majority of the playoffs uncontested, for the most part. They had a brief hiccup in the second game of the district tournament with a rough first quarter against Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich, but they battled back to win that game. The Bearcats won the district tournament in Langdon, then won the region tournament in Devils Lake.
It all earned North Star a trip to its first state tournament since 2014.
It was the fifth state tournament appearance in the team’s history. The Bearcats have only won the gold once, in 2011 with a 63-55 defeat of Grafton. Before this season, they’d only been to the state championship game one other time, which came the very next year in 2012 when they lost 51-49 to Beulah. (They also had four tournament appearances and two championship appearances when they were just known as Cando, but they never won a title.)
Naturally ranked as the No. 1 seed heading into this one, North Star faced off in the first round against No. 8-seeded LaMoure-Litchville/Marion at the Minot State Dome. The Bearcats won in fairly handily fashion, 52-38.
Dane Hagler’s 16 first-half points gave North Star a 28-18 lead at halftime. He was limited to just a pair of free throws in the second half, but Parker Simon stepped up with 16 total points, and Karsen Simon put up 13 with a trio of three-pointers. The Bearcats shot 20-of-40, while the Loboes only shot 14-of-44.
Next up for North Star was the No. 4-seeded Bishop Ryan Lions in the state semifinals. The Bearcats won this one 62-48. They actually trailed 14-12 at the end of the first quarter, but they outscored the Lions 13-5 in the second quarter and never looked back.
Hagler was the star once again. He was the only Bearcat to reach double digits, putting up 25 points. He added 11 rebounds for the double-double. Hagler, a four-sport prodigy who comes from a long line of successful Haglers in the town of Cando, reached the 2,000 career points milestone during the district tournament. He’ll be going on to play baseball for Jamestown next year.
In the other semifinal game, Bowman County — the team that was ranked No. 1 for so long but entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed — lost to Westhope/Newburg 63-61.
Enter the Sioux.
W/N was ranked No. 5 in the regular season polls. It was still a force to be reckoned with, though, with a 17-1 regular season record. In the District 8 tournament, the No. 2-seeded Sioux beat the No. 7 seed by three points, then beat the No. 3 seed by 25. They lost, however, in the District 8 championship to Bishop Ryan — a team, remember, that North Star beat by 14 in the state tournament.
A second-place finish in districts was still enough for W/N to advance to the Region 4 tournament. W/N swept that bracket — including a championship rematch against Bishop Ryan, where the Sioux got their revenge with a 73-65 win.
In the previously mentioned state semifinal win over Bowman County, W/N held off a 35-point performance by Bohden Duffield. Walker Braaten had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Sioux, and the team shot 53.3% to advance to the championship against North Star.
And with two of the hottest teams facing off, the Bearcats’ run of glory finally came to an end. Hagler still had a typically strong showing with 25 points, but W/N’s Braden Bailey countered with 26. The Sioux shot 21-of-45, while the Bearcats shot 19-of-45. The Sioux also made 14 three-pointers compared to North Star’s eight. Parker and Karsen Simon were held to eight and six points, respectively. The 65 points were the second-most the Bearcats have allowed to a Division B opponent this season.
So North Star had to settle for being the runner-up. The looks in their eyes in the team photo said it all: They weren’t satisfied. They wanted to win the whole thing. And with Hagler and both Simon brothers all in their senior year, this was the team that was destined to achieve it.
But despite not reaching their ultimate goal, they shouldn’t hang their heads after the incredible season they put together. They finished with a 26-2 overall record. Hagler reached 2,000 points, while P. Simon reached 1,000 points. Both of them were named to the all-tournament team as well. The Simon twins were a lethal duo at times, even if it wasn’t always easy to tell who was who. Hagler’s younger brother Hunter stepped up on many occasions as well, and provides some hope for the future even after Dane, Parker and Karsen have all moved on.
The Bearcats will have to wait at least another year to bring the hardware back to Cando.
