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CITY (NewsDakota.com) – Maple Valley and Valley City will meet in the Barnes County Tournament championship for the second straight year.
A championship game that Maple Valley won 48-43 last year will play out again Saturday as both the Raiders and Hi-Liners picked up victories in Thursday’s semifinal games.
Jordan Haseleu knocked down two buzzer-beating 3-pointers as Maple Valley was able to put LaMoure-Litchville-Marion away 55-45.
Maple Valley used to a 9-0 spurt late in the fourth quarter to pull away for good. In the second semifinal, Chase Carpenter was on fire for Valley City, knocking down five 3-pointers in the first half of their 60-58 win over Milnor.
Carpenter finished the game with 26 points and six 3-pointers. The Hi-Liners led by as many as 19 in the second half, and were up by 12 late in the game before a frantic final minute. Missed free throws by Valley City and big shots from Landon Mund and Briton Bussman gave Milnor a chance at the end.
Valley City and Maple Valley play for the title at about 4:30 on Saturday. Milnor and LLM play for third at about 3 p.m.
Also Thursday, Enderlin beat Finley-Sharon/Hope-Page 64-23 and Griggs County beat Barnes County North 61-42 in consolation play. FSHP and BCN play for 7th at noon on Saturday and Enderlin and Griggs play for fifth at 1:30 p.m.
All four games Saturday can be heard on Q101.1 and streamed at NewsDakota.com
Valley City 60, Milnor 58
Carpenter’s big first half of 17 points helped propel the Hi-Liners to a 29-22 halftime lead. They extended it out to as much as 48-29 in the third quarter but Milnor hit eight free throws in the final 30 seconds of the quarter to get back within 11. A strong fourth quarter by Mason Denholm had Valley City up 60-48 with just under two minutes remaining, but Milnor was not done.
Briton Bussman continued his second-half surge of 22 points and knocked down a 3-pointer to cut it to 60-55 with about 30 seconds to play. Valley City then missed two free throws and Landon Mund cut the lead even further.
Carpenter was fouled and missed both free throws, giving Milnor a shot at the end but Bussman’s winning 3 was off the mark and a tying putback by Noah Knutson rimmed out.
Bussman finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds for Milnor. Wyatt Mund had 18 points and eight rebounds, and Landon Mund added 13 points. Carpenter led Valley City with 26 points and six rebounds. Denholm scored 14 and also dished out nine assists in the victory.
Maple Valley 55, LaMoure 45
A back and forth first half went to Maple Valley after Haseleu knocked down his three at the buzzer. The excitement continued into the second half with the two teams trading blows. After Maple Valley went up 30-25, Brady Thielges answered for LaMoure.
Another 3 by Haseleu to beat the third-quarter buzzer helped Maple Valley to a 39-33 lead in the fourth quarter, and again the teams traded blows.
LaMoure got back within 42-40 on jumpers by Jared Meiklejohn and Thielges, but Maple Valley ripped off a 9-0 spurt — keyed by two baskets from James Richman and capped with a Haseleu 3 — to open up a 51-40 lead and put the game away.
Richman finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Raiders. Haseleu scored 19 and dished five assists. Meiklejohn hit big shot after big shot to keep LaMoure in the game and finished with 23 points and six rebounds. Thielges added nine points.
Griggs County Central 61, Barnes County North
Leading just 31-27 at halftime, Griggs County Central used a big second half to pull away from the Bison. Kris Wathne scored 28 points for the Cougars, and also went over 1,000 career points during the game. He added 13 rebounds for a double-double.
Barnes County North was led by Jacoby Kramlich with 18 points, including four 3-pointers. Derek Fletcher scored 12 for the Bison.
Enderlin 64, Finley-Sharon/Hope-Page 23
This outcome was still uncertain entering the fourth quarter, but a 19-0 run to start the period turned an 11-point lead for Enderlin into a 30-point margin as they coasted down the stretch.
Colton Huus collected 20 rebounds for Enderlin, and also led them with 15 points in the win. Daniel Lindgren added 14 points and Austin Dixson scored 10.
Lucas Montag and Austen Archer led the Spartans with six points apiece.