Sports Editor

CROSBY - Just one upset found its way into the District 16 Boys Basketball Tournament at Haggin Court in Crosby Saturday.

No. 5 Powers Lake tipped No. 1 Trenton 56-53 in one semifinal, while No. 2 Trinity Christian held off host No. 3 Divide County 65-60 in the other semifinal. Trinity Christian and Powers Lake will meet for the championship at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Also Saturday, No. 6 Wildrose-Alamo edged No. 7 Burke County 62-57 to end the Titans' season, while No. 4 Tioga dumped No. 6 Ray 56-43.

Wildrose-Alamo will play Trenton at 5:45 p.m. in one region qualifying game, while Divide County takes on Tioga at 4 p.m. in the other Monday. In Friday's first round, Trinity Christian pushed past Burke County 67-45, Powers Lake snuck past Tioga 66-64, Trenton held off Ray 56-46 and Divide County handled Wildrose-Alamo 62-48.

TCS 65, DC 60

Trinity Christian led 19-10 in the first quarter, but the Maroons came back to cut the lead to 31-29 at the break. The Crusaders pushed the lead to four and held it most of the second half. With 24 seconds left, Grant Windfaldet scored off a blocked shot by Derek Benter to pull Divide County within 62-60.

However, Eli Black hit two free throws to get the four-point lead back. The Maroons missed a couple opportunities with 20 seconds left and the Crusaders escaped with the win.

Black led the Crusaders with 20 points to go with nine rebounds. Kyle Ceynar added 17 points, 11 in the first half, while Jason Stewart held his own in the middle with 11 points and six boards against the taller Benter.

Windfaldet led the Maroons with 19 points, followed by Benter with 16 and Cody Roland scored nine.

DC 10 19 13 18 - 60

TCS 19 12 15 19 - 65

Divide County (60) - Grant Windfaldet 19, Derek Benter 16, Cody Roland 9, Levi Garbel 8, Devin Jacobson 3, Troy Roness 3, James Johnson 3.

Trinity Christian (65) - Eli Black 20, Kyle Ceynar 17, Jason Stewart 11, Nate Norby 6, Kent Grueneich 4, Cole Hoover 4, Gabe Black 3.

PL 56, Trenton 53

Trenton jumped out to a 15-11 lead in the first quarter behind strong play from Cameron Hodgkiss and board play by Cory Kummer. However, the Ranchers got going in the second sparked by threes from Lucas Titus to overtake the Tigers 30-28 at the break.

The Ranchers clung to a five-point edge going into the fourth. Hodgkiss hit a three and then scored on a putback to pull the Tigers even, but Titus answered with a three and the Tigers couldn't make another run. Titus led with 25 points, including six threes, while Jordan Carlson had 14 points and Robert Moore tacked on 12.

Hodgkiss paced Trenton with 19 points before fouling out late in the game, while Kummer dumped in 16 points and had seven boards and four blocks.

PL 11 19 15 11 - 56

Trenton 15 13 12 13 - 53

Powers Lake (56) - Lucas Titus 25, Jordan Carlson 14, Robert Moore 12, Clay Carlson 3, Lance Roloff 2.

Trenton (53) - Cameron Hodgkiss 19, Cory Kummer 16, Nick Brunelle 5, Jeremiah LaDue 4, Clinton Lawrence 3, Cody Kreil 2, Casey Moran 2.

W-A 62, BC 57

With the score tied at 55-all, the Roses had the ball with 16 seconds left, but Burke County blocked a shot underneath sending the game into overtime.

In the extra frame, Cody Nelson gave the Titans an early lead with a jumper, but it was all Roses after that as Seth Nygaard went 4-of-4 from the free throw line to help the Roses to the 7-2 advantage and the win.

Nygaard had a standout game with 21 points, nine boards and eight assists to lead the Roses, while Deyton Bogrett had the double-double with 15 points and 12 boards. Yarbrough tossed in 13 points.

Burke County was led by Jordan Johnson who had 22 points in the game, 11 in the third quarter, but fouled out midway through the fourth quarter. Mark Watterud, Kelly Iverson and Cody Nelson each added eight points.

BC 14 13 16 12 2 - 57

W-A 15 13 11 16 7 - 62

Burke County (57) - Jordan Johnson 22, Kelly Iverson 8, Mark Watterud 8, Cody Nelson 8, Andrew Schweyen 8, Eric Rick 3.

Wildrose-Alamo (62) - Seth Nygaard 21, Deyton Bogrett 15, E.J. Yarbrough 13, Brandon Solem 9, Logan Sevre 2, Robert Watterud 2.

Tioga 56, Ray 43

Justin Vejtasa scored 17 of his game-high 23 points to keep the Pirates out front. Tioga pulled away in the fourth quarter.

Ray was led by Matt Heier's 11 points, while Charlie Anderson added 10 and Jordan Viall and Clint Perdue each scored seven.

Quarter scores not available.

Tioga (56) - Justin Vejtasa 23 (rest of scores not available)

Ray (43) - Matt Heier 11, Charlie Anderson 10, Jordan Viall 7, Clint Perdue 7, Shane Hill 3, Jordan Vance 3, Jordan Perdue 2.

DC 62, W-A 47

The Maroons came out scorching the nets in the first half and Derek Benter roamed the middle as he scored six of Divide County's 16 in the first quarter to lead 16-7.

The Maroons opened the second quarter with a 10-2 run to open up a 26-9 lead and held a 37-16 advantage at the break.

"Knocking down those outside shots really opened the passing lanes to Benter," said Maroons co-coach Matt Trapp.

Coming out of the half, the Roses put together a 9-0 run capped by a three from E.J. Yarbrough to pull within 39-25 and the two teams see-sawed the rest of the way as the Maroons held a 46-28 lead. The Roses couldn't quite catch them despite a strong fourth quarter.

Benter led all scorers with 21 points, while Devin Jacobson hit three threes to finish with 13 points.

Seth Nygaard scored 17 and pulled down 12 boards lead the Roses, while Logan Sevre came off the bench for 10 points.

W-A 7 9 11 21 - 47

DC 16 21 9 16 - 62

Wildrose-Alamo (47) - Seth Nygaard 7-15 2-4 17, Logan Sevre 4-7 0-1 10, Deyton Bogrett 2-5 3-5 7, Brandon Solem 3-15 1-2 7, E.J. Yarbrough 2-10 1-5 6. Totals: 18-52 7-19 47.

Divide County (62) - Derek Benter 8-11 5-5 21, Devin Jacobson 5-11 0-0 13, Cody Roland 4-9 0-0 9, Troy Roness 2-6 2-2 8, Grant Windfaldet 2-5 0-3 4, Loren Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, James Johnson 1-6 0-0 2, Levi Garbel 1-3 0-0 2, Kenny Thomas 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 24-58 8-12 62.

Three-pointers: W-A 4 (Sevre 2, Nygaard 1, Yarbrough 1), DC 6 (Jacobson 3, Troy Roness 2, Roland 1). Rebounds: W-A 39 (Nygaard 12), BC 39 (Roland 7). Fouls: W-A 14, DC 20. Fouled out: Benter. Assists: W-A 2, DC 9. Turnovers; W-A 11, DC 7.

TCS 67, BC 45

Twenty-three points seemed to come awfully easy for Eli Black who gave the Crusaders a shot in the arm whenever they seemed to stall on offense.

"You'll be sitting there and all of the sudden Eli will shoot a three, penetrate and score or find someone. He's a good floor leader for us and stepped up tonight, that's what a floor leader is supposed to do," said TCS coach Doug Black.

Three threes by Eli helped the Crusaders to a 23-17 first quarter. Nate Norby knocked down a couple jumpers to help keep the lead in the second and the Crusaders led 33-23 at the break.

Eric Rick took over for the Titans in the third quarter going on a personal 8-2 run to pull BC within 35-31. However, the Crusaders clamped down on defense to hold him to one the rest of the quarter and four the rest of the game. Gabe Black's jumper sparked a 14-0 run by TCS which included two more threes by Eli to open a 49-31 lead and the Crusaders never looked back.

Eli led the Crusader with 23 points, including five threes, and he also had eight boards. Kyle Ceynar added 16 points and Gabe Black scored eight.

Rick led the Titans with 21 points, followed by Johnson's 11 and Andrew Schweyen added two threes.

BC 17 6 10 12 - 45

TCS 23 10 16 18 - 67

Burke County (45) - Eric Rick 9-14 2-5 21, Jordan Johnson 4-12 3-4 11, Andrew Schweyen 2-7 0-0 6, Kelly Iverson 2-11 1-2 5, Mark Watterud 1-4 0-1 2. Totals: 18-49 6-12 45.

Trinity Christian (67) - Eli Black 8-17 2-2 23, Kyle Ceynar 7-14 2-4 16, Gabe Black 4-7 0-0 8, Nate Norby 3-6 0-0 6, Jason Stewart 2-4 0-0 4, Ryan Fell 2-2 0-0 4, Cole Hoover 1-2 1-4 3, McHale Maristuen 1-3 0-1 2, Raj Patel 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 28-58 6-13 67.

Three-pointers: BC 3 (Schweyen 2, Rick 1), TCS 5 (E. Black 5). Rebounds: BC 25 (Johnson 7), TCS 44 (E. Black 8). Fouls: BC 14, TCS 17. Fouled out: none. Assists: BC 4, TCS 8 (E. Black 4). Turnovers: BC 19, TCS 18.

PL 66, Tioga 64

Watching the Ranchers and Tioga Pirates was like watching rival hornets nests going to battle. Flailing arms and legs buzzed around the floor as the two teams piled up 16 fouls in the first quarter leaving the Rancher with a 17-13 lead. A 10-2 run to start the second quarter helped Powers Lake to a 36-26 halftime lead.

"One thing we've lacked is intensity, but we came out strong and intense," said Powers Lake coach Mandy Schelling.

The Ranchers came out of the half with two scores each from Jordan Carlson and Titus to build a 46-30 lead.

However, Tioga's Tyler Hawkinson had been warming up and he took over scoring 16 of the Pirates' 18 points in the third as he put up six straight to close out the quarter and pull Tioga within 50-44.

Tioga chipped way at the lead until a buckets by Kevin Hove and Justin Vejtasa pulled the Pirates within 59-58.

Titus answered with a bank off the glass and Titus hit two free throws for breathing room. Tioga again got within two with a three by Cody Weflen with 1:19 left.

Carlson's free throw nudged the lead to three and with six seconds left, Weflen bombed a three from four feet beyond the arc to tie the game at 64 with five ticks left.

After a Ranchers timeout, Powers Lake got the ball to Carlson who was run over by Hawkinson who went for the steal at halfcourt. Carlson hit both free throws to seal the win. Titus led the Ranchers with 24 points, while Carlson added 23 and Robert Moore, who missed most of the game with foul trouble, added seven.

Tioga out-boarded the Ranchers 52-30, but unfortunately for the Pirates, a lot of those rebounds were offensive boards that just wouldn't go in the hole. Hawkinson led the way with 20 points, while Weflen added 15, with three threes, and Hove scored 12.

Powers Lake 17 19 14 16 - 66

Tioga 13 13 18 20 - 64

Powers Lake (66) - Lucas Titus 8-14 6-7 24, Jordan Carlson 7-10 7-11 23, Robert Moore 2-4 2-4 7, Lance Roloff 2-5 1-2 5, Sergio Mar 2-6 0-2 4, Clay Carlson 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: 22-40 16-26 66.

Tioga (64) - Tyler Hawkinson 10-23 0-0 20, Cody Weflen 4-6 4-4 15, Kevin Hove 6-15 0-4 12, Justin Vejtasa 4-14 1-2 9, Jace Lalim 2-13 1-2 5, Christopher Pederson 1-3 1-1 3. Totals: 27-79 7-14 64.

Three-pointers: PL 6 (J. Carlson 2, Titus 2, Moore 1, C. Carlson 1), Tioga 3 (Weflen 3). Rebounds: PL 30 (Titus 8), Tioga 52 (Hove 12, Hawkinson 10). Fouls: PL 18, Tioga 22. Fouled out: PL, Moore, Roloff. Tioga, Lalim. Assists: PL 5, Tioga 5. Turnovers: PL 21, Tioga 10.

Trenton 56, Ray 46

Ray served notice that the district wasn't that far apart from the top to the bottom as the Jays erased a 12-7 first quarter deficit when Clint Perdue drained a three and Matt Heier got a putback to knot the game early in the second.

After trading buckets, Ray's Charlie Anderson got a free throw and he pounded the boards for a score to give the Jays a 20-17 lead and sparked a 9-2 run capped by back-to-back scores from Jordan Viall to give Ray a 26-19 halftime lead.

Trenton came out of the half and extended its defense to a full court press. On offense, Cory Kummer scored underneath and Cameron Hodgkiss drained a three. Then the full court press started to produce with steals and hard drives to the bucket by the Tigers. "In the second half, our intensity was much better and we extended the floor and attacked the basket much better. We got a lot more penetration instead of settling for the outside jumper," said Tigers coach Bobby Wick.

The Trenton defense held the Jays to three points in the third to build a 10-point lead.

Ray came back in the fourth and got within six, but couldn't seem to break that barrier.

Hodgkiss led all scorers with 27 points, followed by Kummer with 14 and nine boards.

Charlie Anderson paced the Jays with 15 points, followed by Clint Perdue with 11 and Matt Heier with 10.

Ray 7 19 3 17 - 46

Trenton 12 7 22 15 - 56

Ray (46) - Charlie Anderson 6-12 3-4 15, Clint Perdue 4-11 0-0 11, Matt Heier 4-12 2-3 10, Jordan Viall 3-6 1-2 7, Shane Hill 1-8 0-0 3. Totals: 18-49 6-9 46.

Trenton (56) - Cameron Hodgkiss 10-21 4-7 27, Cory Kummer 6-14 2-3 14, Jeremiah LaDue 2-4 2-2 6, Nick Brunelle 1-2 1-2 3, Josh Geros 0-4 1-2 1, Cody Kreil 0-2 1-2 1. Totals: 20-52 12-20 56.

Three-pointers: Ray 4 (Perdue 3, Hill 1), Trenton 4 (Hodgkiss 3, Lawrence 1). Rebounds: Ray 41 (Anderson 11), Trenton 30 (Kummer 9). Fouls: Ray 18, Trenton 17. Fouled out: none. Assists: Ray 6, Trenton 4. Turnovers: Ray 25, Trenton 13.