Boys basketball: R-T-R Knights win the big one over Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks

Mar. 15—MARSHALL — Dawson-Boyd was the one in 28-1 for Russell-Tyler-Ruthton.

That one loss came in the Camden Conference championship game, a 72-70 Blackjacks win on Feb. 27.

After Wednesday night's Section 3A championship, the Knights were fine conceding that one loss. Because they came out No. 1 in the section.

"We lost the conference championship game, but I'd rather have this one," said R-T-R senior Aiden Wichmann following his team's 63-55 victory at the R/A Facility at Southwest Minnesota State University. "This one's way more important."

The Knights are state-bound for the eighth time in school history. They begin the Class A state tournament on Wednesday, March 22 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

"(Dawson-Boyd's) a really good team so we had to slow down their runs, rebound and defend," Wichmann added. "We worked hard; that's all we had to do."

That plan was executed perfectly by the defending section champion. R-T-R crashed the glass with reckless abandon. It extended possessions throughout the first half, finishing with nine offensive rebounds. The Knights went into the locker room with a 30-24 lead.

"They did a nice job of not allowing us to find an extended rhythm offensively in the first half," said Blackjacks head coach Cory Larson.

D-B had to adjust with its senior guard and main ball-handler, Keegon Wicht, going to the bench with three fouls in the first half. Brayson Boike, who led the Blackjacks with 24 points and 11 rebounds, also took on Wicht's role at point guard.

"We certainly trust in (Boike)," Larson said. "It's certainly not the way we've operated all season. The 29 games before that, Keegon's never been in foul trouble. He's always been the one orchestrating the offense. Those two seldom come out of a game, especially when it's tight. I thought Brayson did a nice job."

Wichmann played on the Southwest Stars AAU basketball team with Wicht and knows just how important he is to D-B's success.

"Wicht's a very good player," Wichmann said. "I know how he plays, I know what he likes to do. Him getting in foul trouble helped us but you never like to see a team not at full strength when you're playing 'em."

Trying to make state for the first time since 1991, the Blackjacks (26-4) put together two runs in the second half. With a Wicht 3-pointer, an Aiden Swenson layup and a Boike layup, they cut R-T-R's lead to 38-36. The Knights responded with six straight points to halt the momentum.

Then with less than four minutes to go, D-B's Drew Hjelmeland scored four straight points, his first two buckets of the game, to make it a one-point game, 54-53.

"Everyone on the team believes in Drew and Drew believes in himself," Larson said. "These guys have each other's backs. That's what allows a kid to step up later in the game and score some buckets to give us that chance down the stretch."

An over-and-back call gave the Blackjacks the chance to take the lead, only for their ensuing possession to end without points.

"It comes down to a possession," Larson said. "You get a stop and a score, it becomes a completely different game."

Wichmann cemented the Knights' victory down the stretch, going 7 of 8 from the free-throw line over the final 2:18.

"One of the big things we talked about going into this game was keeping our composure," Wichmann said. "We know they're going to go on their runs. Just staying patient (and) staying calm through the adversity. We knew it would fix itself."

Dawson-Boyd (26-4) 24 31 — 55

RTR (28-1) 30 33 — 63

DAWSON-BOYD — Scoring: Brayson Boike 24, Keegon Wicht 11, Aiden Swenson 5, Drew Hjelmeland 4, Levi Olson 4, Carter Bowen 4, Gunner Liebl 3 ... 3-point shots: Wicht 1, Swenson 1, Liebl 1, Boike 1 ... Rebound leaders: Boike 11, Bowen 6, Swenson 5 ... Assist leaders: Wicht 3, Swenson 3, Olson 3 ... Steal leader: Boike 2 ... Block leader: Olson 2

RTR — Scoring: Aiden Wichmann 26, Hayden Gravley 11, Drew Werkman 10, Cody Wichmann 6, Camden Hansen 6, Blake Christianson 2, Tucker Haroldson 2 ... 3-point shots: Gravley 1... Rebound leaders: Werkman 10, A. Wichmann 7 ... Assist leader: n/a ... Steal leader: Werkman 2, A. Wichmann 2 ... Block leader: Matt Weber 1

Dylan Bainbridge and Clint Determan led two-seed Border West past top-seed Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa to advance to the Section 6A championship at Glenwood.

Bainbridge recorded a game-best 20 points on 7 of 14 from the field, making 4 of 8 free throws. Determan scored 16 points, making 7 of his 18 shots from the field.

Border West utilized a 27-17 halftime lead to hold off the Jaguars, who outscored the Buccaneers 32-24 in a second half comeback attempt that fell short.

Leading BBE's effort was Luke Illies and Kaden Pieper.

Illies, a 6-foot-5 sophomore forward, scored 15 points on 7 of 8 makes from the field with 1 of 2 makes from the free throw line. He also added nine rebounds and three blocks. Pieper, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, notched 13 points on 5 of 19 field goals and 2 of 4 free throws with six rebounds.

A junior guard/forward listed at 6-foot-3, Luke Dingmann added nine points and 10 rebounds for the Jaguars.

BBE finishes its season with a 24-5 record. Border West facse the North's top-seed in Henning, which beat second-seeded Battle Lake 59-44 on Wednesday, at 7 p.m. Friday at Fergus Falls.

Border West (25-2) 27 24 — 51

BBE (24-5) 17 32 — 49

BORDER WEST — Scoring: Dylan Bainbridge 20, Clint Determan 16, Cole Gilsdorf 6, Andrew Walker 5, Holden Rinke 2, Grant Dawson 2 ... 3-point shots: Bainbridge 2, Determan 2, Walker 1 ... Rebound leader: Gilsdorf 8 ... Assist leaders: Bainbridge 3, Rinke 3 ... Steal leader: Walker 3 ... Block leader: Brayden Hofer 1

BBE — Scoring: Luke Illies 15, Kaden Pieper 13, Luke Dingmann 9, Tanner Shelton 8, Jamison Reed 2, Hayden Sobiech 2 ... 3-point shots: Shelton 2, Pieper 1 ... Rebound leaders: Dingmann 10, Illies 9 ... Assist leader: Dingmann 4 ... Steal leader: Shelton 1 ... Block leaders: Illies 3, Dingmann 2