By Grant Klevgaard
Friday’s boy’s basketball game between the Enderlin Eagles and Fargo Oak Grove Grovers had all the hallmarks of a Region 1 postseason game. The stakes were high for both squads tonight, with Enderlin fighting for a shot at the regular-season championship and Oak Grove looking to secure a top-four seed in the region.
The Grovers got off to a hot start and led by double digits early on in the first quarter. But, the Eagles proved why their ranked No. 5 in Class B and clawed their way back by the early second quarter. From that point onward, neither team was able to pull away, which led to a wild back and forth second half. Oak Grove’s Mason Martinson buried 8 three-pointers and Enderlin’s Joe Hurlburt consistently found his way to the bucket and snagged double-digit rebounds. In the end, it was Enderlin who emerged victorious thanks to some clutch buckets by the Hurlburt brothers and Carson Bartholomay late in the fourth quarter.
Although the Grovers came up on the short end of the scoreboard, they proved that they can play with any team in the region and will be dangerous come tournament time. They were led in scoring by Mason Martinson with 26, followed by Trevon Rodriguez with 12, Noah Swenson with 11, Ian Saunders with 7, Ethan Kessler with 3, and Scott Boehning had 2 points. Oak Grove’s contest will be on the road against Northern Cass on February 26th.
The Eagles will settle the regular-season championship in one week when they host the first-placed Kindred Vikings. For the Eagles tonight, Gus Hurlburt led the squad with 27 points, Joe Hurlburt had 19, Carson Bartholomay scored 16, Dawson Lemna had 8, Alijah Dixson scored 2, and Danszek Parsons had 1 point.
Scoring summary:
END 10 24 20 19 73
OG 16 15 20 18 69
HIGHLIGHTS
