Griggs County Central has been prone to long scoreless stretches this winter.
“That’s been our thing all year -- scoring droughts,’’ Cougars coach Rick Anderson said. “We can’t afford to do that against anybody. Especially against these guys. Hatton-Northwood is a good team.’’
A few scoring droughts set the tempo early as top seed Hatton-Northwood rolled to a 62-43 win Monday against Griggs County Central in the quarterfinals of the Region 2 boys high school basketball tournament at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Hatton-Northwood took control with two big runs in a first half that ended with the Thunder leading 32-13.
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The Thunder held GCC scoreless for a span of 7 minutes and 52 seconds in one first-half stretch as Hatton-Northwood extended its lead from 10-6 to 21-6.
“That was big for us,’’ H-N coach Keenan Konschak said of holding GCC scoreless for almost eight minutes. “We’ve had a few of those this year. Stretches like that are where we’ve gotten after it.
“It’s been some of the best defense we’ve ever had this year. We don’t create a lot of turnovers. But we don’t give up good looks at the basket. We have guys who close out on shooters.’’
Late in the second quarter, the Thunder scored nine unanswered points to build a 32-11 advantage.
Griggs County Central kept within striking distance in the second half with its long-range shooting. The Cougars made six 3-point shots in the final 16 minutes. But they could get no closer than 13 points to Hatton-Northwood in that span.
Griggs County Central was without injured Tanner Haugen (knee), its top inside player. “He’s our only big guy. He could have helped us a lot,’’ Anderson said.
Avery Thorsgard had 18 points and Colton Konschak 15 to lead Hatton-Northwood. The 20-2 Thunder are ranked second in this week’s Class B state poll.
Hunter Gronneberg scored 12 points and Jayden Sherrard 11 to lead the Cougars, who finished the season 9-14.
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