Kari Gibb/MDN Westhope-Newburg Sioux Braden Bailey (3) drives with the ball while Harvey-Wells County Hornet Tyler Swang (11) defends in the quarterfinals of the District 6 Boys Basketball Tournament on Friday, February 28, at the Minot Auditorium.

The District 6 Boys Basketball Tournament tipped off on Friday, February 28, at the Minot Auditorium with tons of intrigue. The standings for the seeding came down to tie-breakers between the top three teams.

Our Redeemer’s ended up with the top seed with Westhope-Newburg at the two spot and Bishop Ryan at No. 3 for the postseason play. While the seeding was administrative by nature, the path to the semifinals was all about the games played.

In the upper bracket, the Sioux faced the Hornets while the Lions tackled the Titans in the quarterfinals.

No. 2 Westhope-Newburg 63, No. 7 Harvey-Wells County 38

These two teams know each other. As early as the 2024 football season, the Hornets faced the Sioux in the playoffs on the gridiron. The competitive nature of the relationship was evident from the start of the quarterfinal game.

The Sioux won the tip and scored the first points against the Hornets. Westhope-Newburg also started the game with a full court press look that forced issues with Harvey-Wells County to start the game.

The Sioux began the game with a 5-0 run and led 13-8 at the end of the first quarter of play. The pressure defense by Westhope-Newburg, combined with the edge in 3-point shooting were the key factors in the lead.

The second quarter of play was highlighted by the battle in the paint for rebounds and points. Harvey-Wells County put bodies inside to fight for the edge inside. The physicality led to foul issues towards the end of the quarter for the Hornets.

With the focus on the inside game, the Sioux increased their 3-point attempts and were rewarded with a widening gap. Westhope-Newburg led 30-16 with more shots from the arc than made free throws in the second quarter of play.

The third quarter kicked off where the second left off – Harvey-Wells County working the inside game while Westhope-Newburg had pressure defense and 3-point shooting.

No serious momentum shifts occurred for any extended periods of time in the first four minutes of the third as the Hornets called timeout at the 4:09 mark with the Sioux nursing the 39-18 lead.

The called timeout did little to slow down the 3-point shooting by the Sioux as Westhope-Newburg led 52-25 to start the fourth quarter of play. The Sioux began bench rotation at the 3:15 mark of the game while the Hornets did the same at the 1:16 point.

Westhope-Newburg was led by Dayton Hawkins with 19 points in the win- 15 from 3-point range. Will Artz added ten while both Braden Bailey and Hunter Tolstad added nine each.

Harvey-Wells County was led by Tyler Swang with 13 while Jaxon Feist and Tullen Thorson each posted six in the effort by the Hornets.

The Sioux will face the Lions in the semifinal round of play on Monday, March 3, at the Minot Auditorium.

No. 3 Bishop Ryan 70, v No. 6 TGU 32

In the upper bracket of the quarterfinal games, there were no upsets to be recorded as the third seeded Lions handled business against the sixth seeded Titans.

Both the Titans and the Lions had big men inside with the battle for control of the paint in focus for each team. Walz had the first four points of the game as part of the 7-0 run by Bishop Ryan. TGU called a timeout at the 5:18 mark to regroup.

The half court trap defense by the Lions, combined with the inside edge led to the 22-6 lead at the end of the first quarter of play. Inside scoring by Walz combined with outside shooting from the arc were the keys for the Lions lead.

While the Titans made progress in scoring, the Lions maintained control of the paint and kept defensive pressure on TGU enroute to the 42-19 halftime lead. Bishop Ryan outscored the Titans 20-13 in the second quarter of play.

The Lions kept the game plan into the second half of play- pressure defense with outside shooting. Bishop Ryan outscored TGU 21-8 in the third quarter to increase their lead to 63-27 with one quarter to play.

With 5:21 left to play, Bishop Ryan began working rotation players into the game off the bench. Up 70-30, the Lions cleared the starters off the court with 2:57 to play.

Bishop Ryan was led by Walz with 25 points while Jett Lundeen posted 21 with nine points from beyond the arc.

Karson Hamon had 13 points for TGU while Jaxon Nelson added nine points for the Titans.

TGU will face Harvey-Wells County in the consolation bracket on Monday in game one while the Lions face the Sioux in the first semifinal game on Monday, March 3, at the Minot Auditorium.