Two in a row: Rockets survice thriller in Harvey, dominate Napoleon

The boys are on a roll.

With victories against Harvey/Wells County and Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter recently, this year's Rockets have already equaled their win total from a season ago.

Their recent win streak began with another matchup against the Hornets of Harvey/Wells County, and just like the first game against one another, this one came to another thrilling conclusion.

On this occasion, however, the roles were very nearly reversed.

Taking place in Harvey on Thursday, Dec. 28, the matchup was looking like another close one at first, as Harvey jumped out to a narrow 12-10 lead after the first eight minutes.

The second quarter, however, belonged entirely to the Rockets.

New Rockford-Sheyenne was spreading the ball around effectively and were hitting their shots just as well. By halftime they'd established a 24-34 advantage, having outscored their opponents in the second quarter by 12 points.

Particularly effective on offense were the Rockets' Bennett Meier, Luke Yri, Easton Benz and Easton Simon, who would each end the night having scored double-digits in points.

Harvey was unable to cut down the Rockets' advantage in the third quarter, but the final frame was a different story entirely.

The NR-S offense, which had been efficient for three quarters, suddenly fell silent as the Hornets' defense applied more pressure. Their offense, meanwhile, was heating up from beyond the arc.

Hornets' senior Ethan Eckart got the comeback going with a corner 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter, which was followed by another 3-pointer from Tallen Thorson with about five minutes left in regulation.

Thorson hit another just a minute later, and was then fouled on a third attempt, putting him at the foul line where he scored yet another three points.

Suddenly the Rockets' lead, that had hovered around 10-12 points all game, was down to just a single point, as the score sat at 51-50 with just under two minutes remaining.

The Hornets cooled off at the worst possible time, however, as their next few shots proved inaccurate. But the Rockets didn't help themselves either, and with only seconds left in regulation the Hornets still had a chance to win it.

With just three seconds remaining, sophomore Jaxon Feist of H/WC launched the final shot from beyond the arc, but came up a few inches short, allowing NR-S to escape with a 1-point margin of victory.

The Rockets now had their third win of the year, a feat they didn't accomplish until deep into last years' regular season, and they were about to match their entire win total from a season ago.

Hosting Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter at the NR-S Gymnasium on Tuesday, Jan. 2, the Rockets showed the Imperials just how outclassed they were.

The story of the game was turnovers.

Unfortunately the number of turnovers will never be known, as they're not a recorded stat at the Class B high school level, but it's safe to say that the number of Imperials' possessions that ended in turnovers probably rivaled the number of possessions that didn't.

In other words, the Rockets were cutting off passes, poking the ball away and generally doing everything they could to get back on offense – and it worked all night long.

Consequently, Napoleon/G-S never really managed to find a rhythm, and could do little as the NR-S offense built an insurmountable lead. Building most of that lead was Bennett Meier, who exploded for 20 points on Tuesday.

When the dust finally settled, the Rockets emerged with a dominant 64-37 win, their fourth victory of the season.

The Rockets' overall record following the win on Tuesday was 4-2. Their final overall record a season ago was 4-14.

Meanwhile, watching the game on Tuesday was most, if not the entirety, of the Carrington Cardinals squad, who had taken the short drive north to view their next opponents.

The Cardinals faced off against the Rockets on Thursday, Jan. 4, the first meeting between the two rivals this season. The results of that game will be covered in next week's edition of the Transcript.

Non-Region

Boys' Basketball

NR-S 51, H/WC 50

Thursday, Dec. 28

at Harvey

NR-S: 10 24 10 7 - 51

H/WC: 12 12 10 16 - 50

NR-S: Bennett Meier 12, Luke Yri 10, Easton Benz 10, Easton Simon 10, Kailar Jacobson 4, Kage Walford 3, Ashton Reimche 2. Totals: 17 FG, 13-19 FT, 11 fouls. 3-pointers: Yri 2, Walford 1, Benz 1.

H/WC: Avery Williams 15, Tallen Thorson 13, Teagan Tipton 6, Keaton Keller 4, Ty Jenner 3, Ethan Eckart 3, Ryan McKinven 2, Jaxon Feist 2, Kayl Seig 2, Noah Ziegler 2, Tyler Swang 1. Totals: 19 FG, 8-11 FT, 14 fouls. 3-pointers: Thorson 2, Eckart 1, Williams 1.

B-Squad

NR-S 38, H/WC 62

NR-S: 12 6 13 7 - 38

H/WC: 18 16 15 13 - 62

NR-S: Dashyl Bichler 13, Shaun Reimche 8, Layton Jacobson 8, Thomas Allmaras 4, Aaden Benson 3, Kason Nass 2. Totals: 16 FG, 2-5 FT, 14 fouls. Fouled out: Jacobson. 3-pointers: Reimche 2, Bichler 1, Benson 1.

H/WC: Jaxon Feist 20, Michael Felche 12, Ryan McKinven 7, Ty Jenner 7, Franklin Graumann 7, Carter Laber 5, Garret Heilman 2, Dominik Hoffart 2. Totals: 24 FG, 3-5 FT, 12 fouls. 3-pointers: Feist 4, McKinven 2, Jenner 1, Laber 1, Graumann 1.

Non-Region

Boys' Basketball

NR-S 64, N/G-S 37

Tuesday, Jan. 2

at New Rockford

NR-S: 17 11 19 17 - 64

N/G-S: 6 6 16 8 - 37

NR-S: Bennett Meier 20, Easton Simon 10, Ashton Reimche 9, Kailar Jacobson 9, Easton Benz 7, Luke Yri 3, Shaun Reimche 3, Thomas Allmaras 3. Totals: 27 FG, 7-9 FT, 9 fouls. 3-pointers: Benz 1, Yri 1, Allmaras 1, S. Reimche 1.

N/G-S: Trevor Mows 12, Tristan Schaffner 9, Joren Jangula 5, Carter Haas 4, Eli Heflin 4. Totals: 15 FG, 4-8 FT, 10 fouls. 3-pointers: Schaffner 1, Jangula 1.

B-Squad

NR-S 71, N/G-S 37

NR-S: 19 23 18 11 - 71

N/G-S: 7 11 11 8 - 37

NR-S: Shaun Reimche 18, Layton Jacobson 16, Kason Nass 9, Dashyl Bichler 8, Thomas Allmaras 7, Aaden Benson 6, Malaki Kukowski 5, Thaddison Wobbema 2. Totals: 31 FG, 5-8 FT, 20 fouls. Fouled out: S. Reimche, Nass, Bichler. 3-pointers: Reimche 1, Nass 1, Allmaras 1, Benson 1.

N/G-S: Jacob Meidinger 11, Charlie Smith 8, Brody McDowell 5, Eli Ketterling 5, Brenden Zenker 4, Jackson Piatz 3, Richie Nenow 1. Totals: 12 FG, 11-18 FT, 11 fouls. 3-pointers: Zenker 1, McDowell 1.