Blue Jays Roundup: Boys basketball can't hold out against Minot
Mar. 3—BISMARCK — Spurts of great shooting just couldn't sustain the Blue Jays against a top-5 team Friday evening.
The Jamestown High School boys basketball team fell to second-seeded Minot in the West Region Tournament semifinals. Minot is slated to face top-seeded Bismarck Century in the WDA championship game Saturday.
The Jays will face off against Bismarck High in Saturday's state qualifier. First tip between the Jays and Demons is scheduled to come at 4:15 p.m.
An unbalanced performance by the Jays in the first half helped Minot establish a 38-21 lead through the first 18 minutes.
Minot kept the momentum rolling until Jamestown hit back-to-back treys which helped cut Minot's lead to down to 14 points.
That's about as close as the Jays got to the Magicians.
"I am really disappointed with how we shared the basketball," JHS head coach Jacoby Lloyd said in an interview with Jamestown 107.1 FM. "First and foremost we took a lot of one-pass shots in the first half that killed any kind of offensive flow. We made a little run in the second half and it was all because of our ball movement.
"You saw us get to the rim a little bit better because they were moving more, you saw our shots go in because we were getting to the paint more. That formula we had for those five minutes was the biggest thing tonight and that's what we have to do tomorrow."
Minot's Darik Dissette had 24 points to lead all scorers. The ball-hog also nabbed eight rebounds. Aric Winczewski finished the night with 11 points and six boards while Logan Conklin nabbed 12 balls and scored eight points.
Ryan Larson's 11 points pinned him as the Jays' leading scorer. Eight of the junior's points came at the stripe. Senior shooter, Mason Lunzman, drained three treys in the second half to put his point total at nine.
Noah Meissner, Dalton Lamp and Payton Hochhalter combined for 21 points. Caydann Cox's totals read five points and six rebounds. Thomas Newman was responsible for two points scored.
While the 17-point loss in the regional semis, Lloyd said the only thing the Jays can do is forget, move on and take down Bismarck High.
"Win one and we're in," Lloyd said. "That's the only thing that we can do. It's tournament time — it's win two before you lose two. Tomorrow's a do or die."
Minot 65, Jamestown 48
MIN 38 27 — 65
JHS 21 27 — 48
No final stats provided.
