Mike Kraft/MDN
Ray’s Blake Bergstrom goes up for a layup in between South Prairie-Max defenders Ethan McCall and Jayden Huesers (4) in the course of the first half of the Our Redeemer’s Invitational Tournament quarterfinal spherical on Monday, Dec. 15, at ORCS.
While there are not any ensures in sports activities, the closest occasion of a certain factor because it pertains to highschool athletics in North Dakota is that the Ray boys basketball workforce is unlikely to ever be whistled for a shot clock violation at any level this season.
With 35 seconds per possession at their disposal, the Jays not often ever let the shot clock tick underneath 20, working up and down the court docket at a breakneck velocity, resulting in straightforward buckets on the rim, open pictures from distance and the power to get to the free-throw line.
As a end result, Ray raced out to a fast lead and by no means regarded again, dealing with South Prairie-Max, 88-71, in the quarterfinal spherical of the Our Redeemer’s Invitational Tournament on Monday, Dec. 15. Blake Bergstrom led all scorers with 26 factors and was one among 4 Jays gamers to complete in double figures.
“We played hard and moved the ball around,” Bergstrom mentioned. “We were really unselfish. South Prairie was a good team. They were athletic and came to play. They played hard. They were good and it was good to get a win.”
The Jays (2-0) – ranked fifth in the Class B state media ballot – relied on their beginning 5 to supply the offense, pouring in all however six of their complete factors, together with all 47 in the opening half. Bergstrom did most of his harm offensively in the primary half, scoring 20 factors in the opening 16 minutes. He knocked down eight pictures from the sector, together with 4 from behind the 3-point line and added a free throw. Bergstrom hit back-to-back treys to present the Jays a 23-13 benefit with 1:35 remaining in the primary quarter. Ray led by double figures nearly all of the sport.
“I was just shooting the ball good,” Bergstrom mentioned. “Everything was just flowing and my teammates around me are good players so it helps when you don’t have to do everything by yourself.”
Ray led by as many as 17 in the primary half and shortly stretched it to 20-plus early in the second half as the remainder of the Jays’ scorers started cashing in on their uptempo offense. Jace Becker, Ty Barman and Brody Ceynar stuffed up the stat sheet, all ending in double figures. Ceynar had 11 of his 18 factors in the second half and Ty Barman overcame foul bother to complete with 16 factors. Becker hit double figures by halftime with 10 factors and added three extra buckets in the second half to complete with 16.
“That’s a very skilled team we just played against,” South Prairie-Max coach Jade Larson mentioned. “They have a lot of different players that can score and that makes it difficult to defend. I thought we went a little deeper on our bench. I thought we could maybe wear them out a little bit, but it was too little, too late.”
The Royals (1-1) had foul bother to deal with as effectively, as Weston Sauby was whistled for his third foul in the ultimate second of the opening quarter and Luke Anderson picked up his third two minutes into the second half. Sauby is the workforce’s second-tallest participant at 6-foot-3 and Anderson is the Royals’ lone senior ahead on the roster. South Prairie-Max was already digging into its bench greater than normal to deal with Ray’s fast-paced offense.
The Jays completed with 33 complete area targets and 6 3-pointers, whereas additionally attending to the charity stripe typically. The Royals went 6-for-11 from the road, whereas the Jays have been 16-for-18.
“I thought offensively we were pretty sharp,” Becker mentioned.” Defensively, there’s stuff we’re going to need to sharpen up and rebounding is one thing we will get higher at. That’s one thing that’s going to occur in each sport, however we now have to maintain bettering sport to sport. We prefer to get working. That’s our factor. If we will get working in transition, we’ll do that each one day.”
While it wasn’t sufficient to sluggish the Jays down, South Prairie-Max’s dimension and size inside gave them a little bit of bother on the glass, because the Royals had loads of second-chance alternatives in shut on the rim.
“We scored a bunch of points, but we gave up more than we wanted to give up,” Ray coach Michael Bergstrom mentioned. “We had a hard time keeping the ball in front of us and we didn’t rebound particularly well, but we’re going to go back to work and get those things figured out. Offensively, we were pretty efficient.”
David Eberle led the Royals with 15 factors. Jeret Eklie (13) and Will Rau (10) additionally completed in double figures.
The Jays superior to the tournament semifinals on Thursday, Dec. 18, the place they are going to play Trinity Christian at 6 p.m. The Royals will play in a comfort semifinal sport the identical day in opposition to Surrey at 3 p.m.
The second half of the quarterfinal spherical resumes on Tuesday, Dec. 16, when Central McLean and Tioga play at 6 p.m. and tournament host Our Redeemer’s performs Parshall at 7:30 p.m.