Kari Gibb/MDN Velva senior Ben Schepp (23) drives into the paint while Bishop Ryan senior Jett Lundeen (31) defends the lane in an epic match between the two college bound athletes in the fourth quarter of play in the lower bracket semifinal game of the Division B, Region 3 Boys Basketball Tournament on Tuesday, March 11, at the Minot Auditorium.

The Division B Region 3 Boys Basketball Tournament Semifinal matches, the top four teams from District 6 faced off in the upper and lower brackets of play on Tuesday, March 11, at the Minot Auditorium.

In the upper bracket semi final, Our Redeemer’s squared off against Westhope-Newburg while Bishop Ryan faced Velva in the lower bracket semi final contest. Forget records and seeding when these four teams play in any combination. Each team has won in various locations at various times over the course of the regular season and postseason play.

The winners have the championship game while the other two teams play for third place with both games at the Minot Auditorium on Thursday.

D6-1 Our Redeemer’s 55, D6-3 Westhope-Newburg 39

The Knights faced the Sioux on January 10 at home and posted the win 58-44 before facing them again on Tuesday.

In the highly competitive start to the contest, the Sioux led at the end of the first quarter of play 12-11 while Our Redeemer’s used a 19-9 second quarter performance to gain momentum for the rest of the game. The Knights led 30-21 at the half.

The third quarter kicked off with the same aggressive scoring margin as Our Redeemer’s posted 15 points compared to six for Westhope-Newburg for the 45-27 lead after three quarters of play.

The bulk of the scoring in the second and third quarters was provided by Wyatt Weekley with 13 of his game high 24 points in the two middle quarters. Jace Weekley added seven points in the game as well. Payten Lindbo, Nolan Schmidt and Andrew Eby each had six points in the win.

Westhope-Newburg out scored Our Redeemer’s in the fourth quarter 12-10, but it was too little- too late at that point. Walker Braaten led the Sioux with 15 points while Braden Bailey added 13 in the game. Tiger Lee and Dylan Potter each scored three points in the effort.

D6-2 Bishop Ryan 56, D6-4 Velva 50

The Lions hosted the Aggies on January 17 and nabbed the 71-51 win on their own hardwood. The teams started the game with Bishop Ryan outdueling Velva 20-7 in the first quarter of play.

In the second quarter, the Lions maintained the edge with a 14-12 output that left the score at the half 34-19 for Bishop Ryan.

The Aggies stormed back into the game with a 20-10 third quarter to cut the lead. The Lions held the 44-39 lead with eight minutes to play in the game. In the final quarter, the game was tied at one point 44-44 with lead swaps and even scoring down to the wire.

With less than two minutes to play, the game looked like Velva might pull the upset. Then the Aggies found themselves in foul trouble and Bishop Ryan converted on the shots from the charity stripe to maintain the buffer despite the 12-11 scoring edge of one point for the Lions.

Ramsey Walz had a big night both inside as well as at the free throw line and led the Lions with 21 points. Jett Lundeen added 17 points for Bishop Ryan. Mack Shean added eight while Hayden Seay hit for seven points in the win.

The Aggies were led by Ben Schepp with 25 points- seven in the final quarter of play. Reggie Bruner added 11 points while Cooper Kittleson hit for nine in the game. Mason McPeak added five points for Velva in the contest.

Our Redeemer’s will face Bishop Ryan for the third time this year in the title tilt on Thursday while the Sioux will take on the Aggies in the third place contest the same day.