North Dakota Catchup: EDC
The season is flying by. With the calendar flipping to February, we turn our attention to conference and region races along with the postseason. Here is a rundown of what’s been going on in the EDC: It’s a three-horse race…
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Continue ReadingThe season is flying by. With the calendar flipping to February, we turn our attention to conference and region races along with the postseason.
Here is a rundown of what’s been going on in the EDC:
It’s a three-horse race at the top
The race for first in the EDC is pretty compelling at this point as Fargo Davies, West Fargo Sheyenne and West Fargo all have just one loss in league and are 1-1 against each other.
Fargo Davies is probably the most talented team top-to-bottom, blending great overall size, experience, skillsets and depth together to form a team that, at its best, is the favorite to win a state championship.
Braeton Motschenbacher has turned in a Player-of-the-Year caliber season, averaging 20 points, five rebounds and four assists per game while knocking down 50 percent of his 3-pointers and better than 62 percent of his shots overall. He’s the go-to guy on a team with three other double-figure scorers and a number of other capable contributors.
Jaden Klabo has emerged as a force inside, averaging 14.7 points and 5.7 rebounds. Cole Hage is a rock-solid inside-outside threat, averaging 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds. And Cam VanDam has been excellent as a junior, averaging 11 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists while providing stellar defense.
Harrison Thom, Ty Satter and Grayson Haman all average five points per game or better as well, and give Davies a wealth of potential game-changers on one end of the floor or the other.
West Fargo Sheyenne’s only loss on the season was to Davies in a game that was tight for 30 minutes before the Eagles used a late surge to make the score look more lopsided than gameflow would reveal.
Make no mistake, the Mustangs are for real though.
Christian Kuntz has been as advertised, averaging 18.5 points and nearly four assists per game. He hasn’t shot the ball as well from distance as he’s capable but he’s one of the most dynamic guards in the state and can control a game as well as anybody.
His running mate in the backcourt, Blake Berg, has been excellent too, averaging 13.6 points and 4.6 rebounds.
Tyler Terhark has had a breakout junior year too, averaging 13 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists. He’s a matchup nightmare because he can abuse smaller defenders inside and take taller, slower guys on the perimeter or to the mid post and blow by them.
Ryan Reynolds (6.7 ppg and 6.0 rpg) and Chuck Dubois (8.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg) give the Mustangs two more live frontcourt pieces capable of making an impact on the glass or off the ball. Zion Dettman is a dynamic scoring guard off the bench, averaging 7.7 points while knocking down 39 percent of his 3-pointers.
West Fargo was supposed to be going through something of a retooling season but the Packers have done anything but, going 13-3 while still being in the hunt for a league title.
It starts in the paint for them as Luke Lennon has been arguably the Player-of-the-Year, averaging 22 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. He’s joined by 6-foot-8 junior Hunter Lyman, who’s been impressive too, averaging 12.7 points and 6.8 rebounds. He’ll be a POY candidate next year too.
The guards have been impressive too considering the collective lack of experience they had coming into this season. Matt Miller has been very good in his junior season, averaging 11.8 points and 3.8 assists. Braxton Bruer has been steady, averaging 10 points while connecting on 43 percent of his 3-pointers.
Carter Birrenkott and Carson Hegerle have been good as underclassmen too, giving the Packers a lot to look forward to over the next few seasons.
The middle class is clearly a notch below
It’s clear that the three best teams in the EDC are Davies and the West Fargo schools. After those three, there’s a pretty clear drop to the next three. And after those three, another sizeable drop.
What that means from a big-picture (postseason) perspective is that there figures to be quite a bit of competition for the final spot in the Class A state tournament. Devils Lake, Grand Forks Red River and Wahpeton have all had moments this season in which it looked like the team on the rise only to be knocked back down. There isn’t much separation between those teams at this point.
Red River has a young core that will make the Roughriders an intriguing team next season especially as Brady Dvorak and Will Obioha are among the best inside-outside duos in Class A. Obioha averages 13.2 poins and 6.3 rebounds while Dvorak has become one of the best scorers in the EDC, averaging 18.1 points per game.
Devils Lake has one of the best front lines in Class A, led by junior forward Grant Nelson, who is averaging 17.2 points and 12.2 rebounds per game. Leif Nelson is averaging 10.5 points and 7.9 rebounds.
Wahpeton has earned some eye-opening wins thus far but is a game below .500, illustrating the Huskies’ up-and-downness. Josh Rader has been really good, averaging 15.5 points and 5.4 rebounds. He’s the go-to guy for a team that has a number of other capable contributors.
The talent, even at the bottom, is promising
There’s a fairly sizeable drop after the top six teams in the EDC as Fargo Shanley, North and South, as well as Grand Forks Central and Valley City all have below .500 records at this point.
That’s not to say those teams don’t have some intriguing and promising talent.
Fargo North’s Cayden Rickard has emerged as one of the most dynamic scorers in the league, averaging 18.4 points and 3.5 assists.
Fargo South’s Kiir Mabor has been a stud for the Bruins, averaging 19.2 points and 6.1 rebounds.
Shanley’s Talon Hofer hasn’t been the most efficient but he’s stuffed the stat sheets, averaging 16.2 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Grand Forks Central swingman Chris Demuth is one of the top scorers in the EDC, averaging 20.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while getting to the free throw line eight times a night.