Sean Williams/MDN Morgan Nygaard (1) of Minot High looking for an open teammate while guarded by Landon Caldwell (11) of Watford City on Monday night.

Hitting the court for the last time together at Magic City Campus was Morgan Nygaard, Jack Keiser, Keaton Reinke, Darik Dissette, and Jaeger Gunville, as the group of five seniors played in their final home game. Monday night featured a celebration of their inspiring prep basketball careers, highlighted by the group helping bring a state title back to Minot High last season.

“These five seniors are where they are, and our program is where it is because of their efforts,” Minot head coach Dean Winczewski told the Minot Daily News.

Winczewski added, “They are all going to be missed for different reasons and a lot of it is because of the people they are. They are wonderful young men, and that’s what makes practices and games so fun.”

Following the celebration and a speech by coach Winczewski, the Magicians (17-2 overall, 16-2 West Region) battled with the Watford City Wolves (1-18 overall, 0-18 West Region) where the Magi aimed for one more accomplishment on the night. The Magi would succeed, taking down the Wolves by a final of 110-77.

Showing off his explosiveness early on, Dissette attacked the basket out of the gates and quickly picked up 11 of the first 13 points for Minot. The Wolves, however, showed fight as they matched each basket to hold a 14-13 lead with 13:03 left. The back-and-forth battle would move into the back end of the opening half, until the Magi began spreading the ball out and getting a plethora of contributions.

Leading the charge with Dissette, who scored 19 points in the first half, was Aric Winczewski by pouring in 15 points before the break. Sophomore Grayson Schaeffer would add seven points, and Reinke would score six off the bench in the opening half, helping Minot go on a 46-23 run to close it out strongly.

Overcoming a slow start, Minot would pick up the pace and continue attacking the basket, guiding themselves to a 59-37 lead after an emphatic Dissette dunk closed out the scoring in the first half.

The Wolves continued to fight after the break, as they opened second half edging the Magi 15-13 in scoring and doing most of it by showing they can attack the basket, too. Still, the Magi owned a comfortable 78-61 lead with 9:40 to go, thanks to continued contributions from Dissette, Schaeffer, and Winczewski.

With the Wolves making a little bit of noise in the second half, the game became physical as both teams were relentless in their efforts to get to the rim. The increased physicality would lead to turnovers both ways, but with 3:41 left, Minot led 96-67 and were looking to cruise the rest of the way.

They would do so with the help of 36 points from Dissette, as Minot topped Watford City, 110-77 to close their home schedule in 2022-23.

Following Dissette, Winczewski finished with 22 points, Schaeffer added 12 points, Nygaard, Schell, and Reinke added six points each, Helm scored five points, Bedell added four points, Nelson and Keiser scored three points each, Gunville, Deaver, and Beeter totaled two points each, and Johnson scored one point.

Caldwell led the Wolves with 17 points, followed by Samuel who scored 16, Rojas who added 14 points, Edwards and Lund who scored eight points each, Lawrence with seven points, and Predonzan who finished with six points.

Minot will head to Dickinson on Thursday for their next matchup, which is set to take place at 8:30 p.m.