GRAND FORKS – Grafton’s Ryan Hanson couldn’t miss early, draining 3-pointer after 3-pointer. Juan Villarreal was hot, too. And don’t forget about Braylon Baldwin, the third Grafton guard who hit more than his fair share of perimeter shots.
Combined, the three Grafton guards were nearly unstoppable in the first as they put on a shooting display that carried the Spoilers to a 75-64 win over Hillsboro-Central Valley on Tuesday night in the semifinal round of the North Dakota Class B Region 2 boys basketball tournament at The Betty.
The win advances Grafton to Thursday night’s championship game against Thompson, which rallied to beat Mayville-Portland-C-G 62-60 in the other semifinal.
Villarreal led Grafton with 25 points; Hanson added 21 and Braylon Baldwin finished with 17. The trio sparked Grafton to a 19-point first half lead, but the game wasn’t over as HCV muscled its way back into contention, cutting the lead to six with 5:21 to play.
Grafton’s early perimeter shooting wasn’t a shock.
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“They’re the heart and soul of what we do,” said Grafton coach Riley Lillemoen of his three guards. “They started for us last year; they have the experience and they know how to play. They’re not scared of the moment and they get after it.”
Grafton led 41-22 with 2:52 left in the first half. The Burros, however, cut that deficit to 11 at the half and came within 63-57 before Baldwin trained a three-pointer with 4:03 to go – a shot that gave the Spoilers a three-possession lead.
Lillemoen wasn’t surprised by the Burros’ comeback.
“We knew they would make a comeback because they’re so physical down low,” said Lillemoen. “They’re so good at finishing through contact. They must have shot multiple and-ones. That’s just them outworking us under the basket and that’s got to get better, obviously.”
Grafton finished with 16 three-pointers – 11 of them coming in the first half.
The three-point barrage may have been a little surprising to Villarreal.
“We like to spread the ball around a lot,” said Villarreal. “But they found us when we were open. Big shoutout to my teammates. And big kudos to Braylon for his driving and kicking the ball out, finding us when we were open.”
HCV inside players Landon Olson and Jacob Brandt led the Burros, scoring 24 and 18 points, respectively.
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Grafton now gets another shot at a state Class B tournament berth Thursday night against Thompson. Earlier this season, Thompson beat Grafton 60-50 at home.
“Thompson likes to get up and down the floor,” said Lillemoen. “So we need to take care of business and we need to do the same things that we did tonight, which is defend and box out.”
Grafton improved to 17-6 while the Burros dropped to 15-8.
Grafton 75, Hillsboro-CV 64
Halftime: Grafton 41, HCV 29
Hillsboro-CV – Micah Longthorne 4, Riley Olsen 6, Carter Limke 3, Dylan Mitzel 2, Peter Dryburgh 7, Landon Olson 24, Jacob Brandt 18
Grafton – Braylon Baldwin 17, Juan Villarreal 25, Ryan Hanson 21, Reggie Rice 6, Kyler Droog 6
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