The Scott Wagner show made an appearance at the Jamestown Civic Center in the first round of the Region 3 Tournament. The No. 2 seeded Ellendale Cardinals’ (21-2) senior scored a school record 41 points in a 75-52 win over the Medina/Pingree-Buchanan Thunder (15-7) on March 7.
“It’s magical,” Wagner said. “I’m very blessed. I never thought I could do that. I never did but it’s a blessing and I’m very thankful.”
The Cardinals got 59 of their 75 points from Wagner and Riley Thorpe who scored 18 of his own.
“Once I just hit one, I’ll just keep letting it shoot,” Thorpe said. “Even if I miss I’ll maybe look to shoot some more but I’ll just keep finding Scott.”
Wagner got his scoring started early hitting a layup to give his team an early 2-0 lead. After the Thunder took a 3-2 lead, the Cardinals locked in with Thorpe driving in and hit the layup and converted the and-one to make it 18-8 with 1 minute to go in the first quarter.
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The Thunder would fight back in the second quarter cutting into the deficit as Josh Moser stepped past his defender and hit the jumper to cut the deficit to 34-26 with 15 seconds to go in the second quarter.
In the second, Thunder head coach Bob Young said that his team switching up their defensive pressures allowed them to tighten the game up.
“I think it started with defense,” Young said. “We switched to a one-three-one for a little bit. We man pressed, we mixed it up. There were moments we got opportunities and then I think we hit a couple shots in a row. I think Wagner got to go sit on the bench too, that helped a little bit.”
The third quarter would be all Cardinals as they opened the quarter on a 18-8 run with Wagner hitting a hook shot to make it 54-34 with 1:10 to go in the third. On the other end, Chase Ova hit a three to cut the deficit to 54-37.
Cardinals head coach Brian Vance said that his team’s ability to stretch the lead out was very simple.
“We looked inside to Scotty,” Vance said. “That was the biggest thing, he had a career night I’m sure. They were playing dead behind and sending us low runner, it’s tough to stop 6’8, 250.”
The Thunder’s Gage Magstadt knocked down a three to make it 66-46 with 4:08 to go in the game. The Cardinals’ Levi Reis hit the three to make it 73-49 with 2:37 to go in the game.
The Cardinals return to the court on Tuesday, March 7, to face Linton/Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock in the region 3 semifinals.
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M/P-B 52, EHS 75
M/P-B: 8 18 11 15–52
EHS: 18 16 24 17–75
Points leaders:
M/P-B: Josh Moser 14, Sawyer Wanzek 12, Rylen Wick 9, Gage Magstadt 8, Chase Ova 6, Hunter Mitchell 2, Adam McClellan 1
EHS: Scott Wagner 41, Riley Thorpe 18, Levi Reis 7, Jack Bommersbach 5, Cole Sayler 2, Anton Geller 2
Assists leaders:
M/P-B: Moser 4, Thomas 2, Magstadt 1
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EHS: Bommersbach 5, Thorpe 4, Mason Molan 2, Sayler 1, Geller 1
Leading rebounders:
M/P-B: Moser 8, Magstadt 4, Mitchell 3, Wick 3, Jared Moser 1, McClellan 1
EHS: Geller 7, Thorpe 6, Sayler 5, Wagner 5, Molan 4, Reis 2
Region 3 Boys Basketball Tournament:
March 7:
No. 1 LaMoure/Litchville-Marion 62 vs. No. 6 Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter 37
No. 2 South Border 51 vs. No. 3 Griggs-Midkota 50
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No. 1 Linton/Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock 53 vs. No. 4 Carrington 49
No. 2 Ellendale 75 vs. No. 3 Medina-Pingree/Buchanan 52
March 8:
No. 1 L/L-M vs. No. 2 South Border, 6 p.m.
No. 1 Linton-HMB vs. No. 2 Ellendale, 7:30 p.m.
