Four starters, as well as three top reserves, were returning from a year ago to the Park River/Fordville-Lankin boys basketball team. Whether that was good for a turnaround remained to be seen when practices began last November.
"I just didn't know,'' Aggies coach Rob Scherr said. "We had a lot of guys coming back. But we were coming off a tough year. It was frustrating for them.
"There were teams that graduated a lot of guys who were picked to finish ahead of us in the preseason. I think that hurt these kids. A lot of them are seniors, so it is their last year of basketball. I think they stepped up their effort.''
Park River/Fordville-Lankin's experience did pay off.
Last year, the Aggies finished 6-15, with the No. 5 seed in the six-team District 4 tournament. They had only one win against district foes. Friday, the district tournament starts in Grafton and Park River/F-L will be the No. 2 seed. The Aggies are 6-3 against district foes and, at 11-8, have nearly doubled their win total from last season.
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"It doesn't surprise us,'' said senior Connor Solseng, an all-district pick last season. "We felt we had talent last year. We just didn't put it together. Having a year of experience helped.
"I think everybody is working harder. Most of us are seniors -- we wanted to win more because it is our last year. We got into the gym more over the summer. We've worked more to make ourselves better.''
Scoring and balance are strengths of the Aggies. Solseng (14.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.1 apg) paces the offense. Rounding out the starting lineup are Brady Kovarik (14.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 3 apg), Blake Erickson (13.3 ppg), Landon Lipsh (7.6 ppg, 3.2 apg) and Chad Jelinek (5.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg).
Scherr said many of the players have become less one-dimensional as they improved their shooting and ballhandling skills. "Some of the kids added to their offensive games. They've become a little harder to defend.''
There has been some inconsistency. Park River/F-L has scored 70 or more points four times and hit the 60-point mark in eight other games. The Aggies also have failed to reach 50 points in three games.
"If we're hot, we're tough,'' Scherr said. "But the shooting has been hit-and-miss. The effort always is there. We've just had to learn to be patient and look for mismatches when the shooting is off.
"It's game to game. We can be a scary team. We can beat just about anybody. But we can get beat by anybody.''
Still, it has been a big turnaround for a team that didn't get high rankings in the district in preseason polls.
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"I think that motivated us more than hurt us,'' Solseng said. "We wanted to prove we were better than what people thought.''
Grafton is the No. 1 seed in the three-day district tournament, which begins Friday in Grafton and concludes next Monday. The Spoilers, who are defending district and region champions, haven't lost to a district opponent.
In other North Dakota area boys district tournaments:
n District 3: Quarterfinals will be held Friday at Mayville State University, with the second round Saturday and finals next Monday. Hatton-Northwood is the No. 1 seed.
n District 7: Quarterfinals will be held Friday in New Rockford, with the second round Saturday and finals next Monday. Warwick is the No. 1 seed.
n District 8: Quarterfinals will be held Friday in Langdon, with the second round Saturday and finals next Monday. Defending state champion North Star is the No. 1 seed.
In other area games to watch this week:
Wrestling
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n North Dakota individual region tournaments, Saturday: Casselton hosts the Class B Region 2 tournament, while Region 3 will be held at New Town. In Class A, Devils Lake hosts the East Region tournament.
n Thief River Falls at Greenbush-Middle River-Badger, Thursday: Two of the perennial Section 8 powers -- Thief River Falls in Class AA and G-MR-B in Class A -- meet.
Girls hockey
n Minnesota Section 8A tournament: Two quarterfinal games will be held Thursday at the highest seeds. Seeding will be done today.
Girls basketball
n Thompson at Grafton, tonight: Grafton is coming off a win against third-ranked Central Cass on Saturday. The Spoilers, 14-1 and ranked fourth in the state, host a Tommies team that has only two losses in a matchup of two of the top Region 2 teams.
n Rolla-Rock Lake at Benson County, Tuesday: Rolla-Rock Lake locks up the No. 1 seed in the District 8 tournament with a win. A Benson County win, however, could set up a three-way tie for the No. 1 seed between itself, the Bulldogs and North Star.
n Warren-Alvarado-Oslo at Stephen-Argyle, Thursday: Two of Minnesota's Section 8A best go at it. Entering the week, Stephen-Argyle sits atop West Subsection 8A in QRF standings, with Warren-A-O in second place. Each team has a 1,000-point scorer in its lineup, Sarah Durand for the Ponies and Haley Safranski for the Storm.
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DeVillers reports on sports. Reach him at (701) 780-1128; (800) 477-6572, ext. 128; or send e-mail to gdevillers@gfherald.com .
