2018: BNC National Bank Mandan Holiday B-Ball Tourney
This year’s tournament will feature six Region 5 teams, which will give Region 5 fans a good chance to see who else is in the race to be Region 5 champions this year. Shiloh is obvious with the duo of Jayden Mitzel and Maccauley Young. But other than that it’s hard to tell.
The out of region teams are Hettinger-Scranton and Bottineau. Hettinger-Scranton comes from Region 7 and Bottineau comes from Region 6.
Teams
- Bottineau — They are entering the tournament at 2-1. This will be a learning experience for them. They have to replace Max Henry last year’s District 11 Senior of the year. Bailey Burcham will be a player on their team to watch.
- Shiloh is the favorite in Region 5. They still need to get more offensive production out of Matt Reep and Trey Brunelle. If they can get that production it will make things easier for Mitzel and Young.
- Hettinger-Scranton is on the possible fringes of a turn-around after starting 0-6. They lost to fellow tournament foe Grant County 69-53 earlier this year. But they held Dickinson Trinity to 42 points in a close loss last week. If they’ve figured out how to defend they could be sneaky in this tournament.
- Flasher comes to the tournament with a 4-0 record. Brian Nieuwsma can’t be overlooked. He has taken Flasher to state before and this team has some players to keep an eye on; Hunter Frederick, Cody Ruscheinsky and Jaron Reis.
- New Salem-Almont is an athletic team. Evan Henke leads the attack and average 15 ppg last year. They come in with a 2-1 record and one win over fellow tournament foe Wilton-Wing. Last year, New Salem-Almont finished with a losing record this will tell fans if New Salem-Almont knows how to win now.
- Wilton-Wing has one of the best point guards in the region. Senior Tate Dickson (15 ppg last year) has a quick first step and a lot of experience. But he’ll need some help. This tournament will tell us who has the potential to be Wilton-Wings’ No. 2 and 3 scoring options.
- Turtle Lake-Mercer-McClusky has one of the best seniors in Trapper Jacobs. Jacobs and head coach Joi Anderson have been to the state tournament before. Jacobs averaged 24 ppg last year but he’s going to need help to get TLMM back to state this year.
- Grant County has already doubled their wins from last year. They have an early season win over Hettinger-Scranton and topped New England. Grant County gained a lot of “feed them to the wolves” experience last year. Now, we’ll see where their confidence is.