One of the biggest stories headed into tournament time is about the Jamestown Blue Jays and if they will be chirping or squawking at the end of three days of basketball at the Bismarck Events Center this weekend. The #1 state ranked Jays, 21-0, will open up against the 8th seeded Dickinson Midgets, 8-14, in the opening game at 3:00 for the West Region Boys Tournament. The Blue Jays will be 22-0 by games end.
Another story involves the Minot Magicians and if they will be magical against Darin Mattern’s defending state champion Bismarck Century in their first round bout today at 4:45 p.m. These two teams have combined to win the last four state titles for Class A Boys Basketball in the state of North Dakota. Both teams have 14-7 overall records with Minot currently on a four game winning streak and Century has lost their last two games which includes a 71-63 lost to the Magicians last week Tuesday in Minot. If Century has hopes of winning another state title they must play together as a unit and keep mistakes to a minimum to make Coach Mattern comfortable with the decisions he needs to make to get to the semi-finals on Friday night. Whoever can take care of the ball better and look for the best shot available will come out smiling by the end of this game. I will go with Minot as they seem to be playing better basketball right now at this time of the year.
In the third game of the day the #2 seeded Bismarck Demons look to continue their devilish ways against the 7th seeded Turtle Mountain Braves at 6:30. The Demons who are currently 16-5 have defeated Turtle Mountain twice during the season and should move on with relative ease to play the late game on Friday night.
In the last game of the evening the Bismarck Legacy Sabers hope to leave a legacy of their own as they will take on the #3 seeded Mandan Braves. I don’t see that this will be possible. The Braves currently 14-7 have split their two games with the 12-10 Sabers. Mandan will come ready to play and will give Legacy all they can handle and more tonight.
We would like to wish all the teams the best of luck in their attempt to return to the Events Center next week for the Boys State Class A Basketball Tournament.
