In a rematch of last fall’s nine-man football title game, it was once again New Rockford-Sheyenne spoiling LaMoure-Litchville/Marion’s season.
This time, in boys’ basketball.
The Rockets (22-4) edged out a 55-47 win over the Loboes (15-11) in a do-or-die state qualifier game at SCHEELS Center in the Sanford Health Athletic Complex on Saturday. NR-S, after winning the District 4 championship and falling in the Region 2 title game, narrowly salvaged its season against a pesky Loboes attack.
“We weren’t shooting well,” Rockets head coach Tyler Cook said on the Your Live Event radio feed after the game. “Even the first three quarters tonight, we didn’t shoot it great. But in the fourth quarter, we got a little spark from Kage Walford. He came up huge for us.”
Walford led NR-S with 17 points for a Rockets team that trailed by four going into the fourth quarter. Easton Simon added 16, 12 of which came in the second half.
It was revenge from last year, too, when L-L/M bested NR-S in a qualifier game just like this one.
“Last year, we didn’t have a great record coming in,” Cook said. “We got here, and it was just all kind of, ‘We were happy to be here.’ This year was a different mentality. You just see it in the kids. They were here for a purpose. They wanted to get this win and get on to the next step.”
The Rockets earned their fourth trip to the state tournament in the history of their co-op. They had most recently made it in 2019; their lone state championship came in 2005.
“We’ve all been playing together for four years — football, basketball, everything,” said senior forward Bennett Meier, who surpassed 1,000 career points this season. “We’ve been young for a couple years, and now we’re finally old. It feels like we have experience playing together, and we just click.”
The Loboes were neck-and-neck with NR-S until about 1:30 in the fourth quarter. They were fueled by 18 points from Colby Thielges and 17 points by Brayan Karlgaard. Gunner Thielges, a familiar name from that football championship, added eight points. L-L/M, head coached by Colby and Gunner’s dad, Tyler Thielges, saw its season come to an end.
The Rockets found themselves in an early 7-2 hole. Simon, the team’s junior point guard, found the hole to get them going. Simon had two fouls in the first quarter, but L-L/M’s Mason Warcken missed two free throws with a chance to extend the Loboes’ lead.
Walford swished a three for NR-S, and it was a 7-7 tie with 1:30 left in the first quarter.
“We knew they were really gonna focus on Bennett [Meier] and Easton Simon. And we knew our role guys had to step up,” Cook said. “Kage made that first one, and he got a lot of confidence.”
Karlgaard landed his own triple right before the buzzer to put L-L/M back ahead.
And, to follow, a mostly quiet offensive first quarter devolved into a party of threes in the second. Easton Benz landed back-to-back triples out of the break to put NR-S ahead 13-10. C. Thielges hit one for the Loboes, and it was a 13-13 landlock.
The second quarter featured four lead changes. C. Thielges’ second triple of the game gave L-L/M a 22-19 advantage, but Walford’s third of the game knotted it back up.
It was 24-24 at halftime. Walford’s nine points were leading the Rockets, while the Loboes had 10 first-half points from Karlgaard and eight by C. Thielges. NR-S had five triples in the first half — all from Walford and Benz — compared to L-L/M’s four.
NR-S responded to a go-ahead three in the third quarter with four straight points on free throws by Kailar Jacobson and a put-back by Simon. After a basket by Meier, the Rockets led 32-29 — tied for their largest lead of the game thus far.
But L-L/M had the next four points. G. Thielges put the Loboes ahead 33-32.
Simon briefly gave NR-S the lead back, but C. Thielges hit a three and added another basket to make it 38-34 Loboes. Thielges had a team-high 13 points at the end of the third quarter with L-L/M ahead by four.
Walford ignited the Rockets ahead with a go-ahead three early in the fourth quarter. The teams went on to trade leads four more times in the quarter. C. Thielges scored five more points for the Loboes, but Walford scored eight of his own — including his fifth triple of the game — to run NR-S’ lead as high as 50-44.
Karlgaard was fouled by Benz in three-point range, and he converted all three free throws to slice the lead in half. Simon had a big basket to make it a two-possession game with a little more than a minute left.
With NR-S holding the ball and the clock ticking, the Loboes were forced to foul. Simon went 2-of-4 from the line down the stretch, and Benz added 1-of-2 — enough to put the hammer down on a state-qualifying victory.
“It all started with stops,” said Meier, who had nine points and 11 rebounds. “We started getting defensive stops first, and we were just getting to the basket more in the fourth quarter and getting easier shots.”
The Rockets now head to Minot on Thursday for the Class B state tournament. They’ll be the No. 8 seed out of eight teams.
“These kids know how to perform on the big stage,” Cook said. “They’ve been in big games in every other sport, and they know how to win.”
