Spartans’ 23-win season comes to end
By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
St. Joseph-Ogden won the first half, but Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin captured the second half and the victory in Friday’s Class 2A boys’ basketball regional championship game at the Spartans’ sold-out gymnasium.
B-H/R-A improved to 32-0 with a 38-28 triumph. The game attracted an estimated 1,500 spectators.
Ty Pence scored 14 points and Chance Izard had 11 to lead the Spartans. The team’s other three points were scored by Payton Grimsley.
The Spartans held a 19-14 halftime lead, but managed just eight points thereafter.
Drew Coursey cleared six rebounds in the season-finale. Jordan Kelly handled five rebounds. Payton Cain had three assists.
SJ-O ends the season with a 23-9 record.
The deep and balanced Spartans had seven squad members lead – or share the team-lead – in rebounding this season.
Cain led the way in 10 games, followed by Coursey (nine games) and Conner Hodge (eight games). Pence led in seven games.
Kelly led in rebounding twice and teammates Andrew Beyers and Grimsley each led once.
Pence had the top single-game performance, with 12 rebounds.
Izard was the scoring leader in 17 games, followed by Pence (10), Cain (seven) and Hodge (one).
Izard registered a 36-point game, followed by Pence with a 28-point performance.
Izard ended the year with 83 three-pointers. Pence totaled 57 and Kelly had 14.
Izard posted the highest scoring average for the team this season (16.2 points per game), followed by Pence (12.8) and Cain (9.0).
