The Daily News

The Wahpeton Huskies boys basketball team was looking forward to their first round match up with Bismarck Thursday at the North Dakota class A tournament.

As the No. 1 seed out of the East Region, the Huskies were in a position to beat the Demons.

But, the Demons shot 41 percent from the field in the game and dropped the Huskies into the consolation round with a 63-52 win over Wahpeton.

Wahpeton’s Bryant Friskop makes a move around Esley Thorton in Thursday’s State A quarter-final game against Bismarck. Friskop led the Huskies with 14 points, but the Demons advanced with a 63-52 win. photo by Scott Sorum Advertisement

Bismarck hit their first two shots of the afternoon, including a three-pointer, and took a quick 5-0 lead.

Ryan Smith hit a three-pointer for Wahpeton to pull within two points.

But Wahpeton was shooting poorly, 27 percent in the first half and 28 percent for the game, and the Demons got up by 10 points with eight minutes left in the first half.

Near the end of the half, Wahpeton started to find their shooting touch and narrowed the Bismarck lead to 26-13.

From there, the Huskies went on a 7-3 run.

Trevor Stevens, Bryant Friskop and Jeremy Bontjes hit shots in the run and the Huskies trailed by nine.

Bismarck hit the last shot of the half with four seconds remaining and led Wahpeton 31-20 at the break.

"They came out in the first half and had the intensity," Huskies coach Jeff Ralph said after the game. "We couldn't match them intensity wise. They shot the ball really well and out-rebounded us in the half."

In the first half, Bismarck held a 22-12 rebounding advantage over the Huskies.

In the second half, Smith scored for Wahpeton and the Bismarck lead was down to nine.

Soon after that, Friskop was involved in a collision under the Bismarck basket and stayed down with an injury to his hip or back.

Friskop stayed on the bench four about six minutes.

During that time, the Huskies started a comeback.

TJ Kline hit three three-point shots, Jordan Ralph scored on a lay up drive and suddenly the Huskies trailed by only three.

The third Kline three-pointer tied the score at 33.

The Huskies got their only lead of the day when Bontjes hit two free-throws with eight minutes left.

That 44-43 lead was pushed to 48-43 in favor of Wahpeton, before the Demons made their own comeback.

Bismarck hit three straight shots from the outside and got the lead 52-48 with just over three minutes to play.

The Huskies, needing to send Bismarck to the free-throw line, only had five team fouls.

And every Bismarck possession gave them more opportunity to chew time off the clock.

The Huskies got as close as six points on a Kline basket, but there were only 33 seconds left.

Bismarck hit their free-throws, but the Huskies could not hit their shots on the other end and Bismarck advances to the semi-finals.

"When you shoot 28 percent from the field, you're not going to win," coach Ralph said. "Now we have to be of the mindset that we don't want to go home. Going 2-1 in the State tournament is pretty good. And that's our focus, to bring home the fifth place trophy."

Wahpeton moves into the consolation round on Friday.

The Huskies take on Williston in the consolation semi-finals Friday at 2 p.m. at the Fargodome.

Huskies scoring:

Friskop 14

Kline 13

Smith 12

Bontjes 6

Stevens 4

Ralph 3

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