The Montevideo boys basketball team will take a six-game winning streak into the Section 3AA North tournament after closing the regular season with wins over Benson and Minnewaska.
The wins gave Montevideo sole possession of second place in the West Central Conference South behind Morris/Chokio-Alberta, which went unbeaten in conference play.
Montevideo will be the No. 1 seed in the North half of the section, and the Thunder Hawks will open section play Saturday, hosting Yellow Medicine East (6-17) at 7 p.m.
Other first-round games Saturday will match No. 2-seed Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop against No. 7 Redwood Valley; No. 3 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton against No. 6 BOLD; and No. 4 Minnesota Valley vs. No. 5 Lac qui Parle Valley.
Windom is the No. 1 seed in the South half of the section. Semifinal games in the North and South will be played March 11, with the championship games March 13, and the overall section championship game set for March 18.
“It’s nice to get (the No. 1 seed) after all the tough teams we’ve played,” said Montevideo senior forward Troy Hendrickson. “There were teams with better records, but we played a tough schedule.”
“Everybody was so close by record and nobody had that big win,” said Montevideo coach Dan Douglas. “We had some tough non-conference games, and that helped us.”
Montevideo 76, Benson 62
Four Montevideo players scored in double figures as the Thunder Hawks swept the season series with Benson, winning 76-62 Friday at Benson.
Sophomore guard Brett Bergeson went 9-for-12 from the field, including 5-for-8 from three-point range, to finish with 27 points.
Montevideo pulled away from a three-point lead with an 11-0 run early in the second half that included three-point shots by Ryan Boike, Jacobey Johnson and Bergeson.
Scoring by halves
Montevideo 38 38 — 76
Benson 34 28 — 62
Monte — 23-44 FG; 20-27 FT; 22 rebounds; 16 fouls. Scoring: Ryan Boike 16, Colton Vien 10, Jake Douglas 10, Brett Bergeson 27, Jacobey Johnson 7, Tom Grages 2, Troy Hendrickson 4. Rebounds: Douglas 6, Grages 5, Bergeson 4. Assists: Johnson 4, Boike 3. Steals: Bergeson 3. Blocks: Boike 2. 3-point FG: 10-17 (Bergeson 5, Boike 3, Vien 1, Johnson 1).
Monte 61, Minnewaska 56
Montevideo broke a second-place tie with Minnewaska in the conference standings by edging the visiting Lakers 61-56 in the regular season finale Monday.
The Lakers led much of the game, behind 25 points from Shane Bosek, but Montevideo closed the game on a 7-2 run.
Brett Bergeson’s basket with 1:30 to play broke a 54-all tie, and Jake Douglas hit a pair of free throws with 47 seconds left. Bergeson made one of two foul shots with 25 seconds to go, and after Minnewaska missed a three-point attempt, Douglas grabbed the rebound and made two clinching free throws with 12 seconds remaining.
Ryan Boike led the T-Hawks with 21 points. Colton Vien had 12 points and five steals.
Montevideo coach Dan Douglas said one of the team’s goals, after losing to Morris/Chokio-Alberta for the second time, was to finish second in the conference.
Scoring by halves
Minnewaska 34 22 — 56
Montevideo 29 32 — 61
Monte — 20-51 FG; 15-17 FT; 26 rebounds; 16 fouls. Scoring: Ryan Boike 21, Colton Vien 12, Jake Douglas 10, Brett Bergeson 7, Jacobey Johnson 2, Tom Grages 2, Mitch Christensen 2, Tyler Modderman 5. Rebounds: Douglas 6, Troy Hendrickson 6. Assists: Johnson 3. Steals: Vien 5. 3-point FG: 6-11 (Boike 4, Vien 2).
| West Central South Boys BB | Conf. | All |
| Morris/CA | 16-0 | 22-2 |
| Montevideo | 13-3 | 14-9 |
| Minnewaska | 12-4 | 16-7 |
| Benson | 8-7 | 13-11 |
| Lac qui ParleValley | 8-7 | 10-12 |
| Paynesville | 4-11 | 5-16 |
| BOLD | 4-10 | 10-12 |
| Yellow Med. East | 3-13 | 6-17 |
| Atwater-Cos-GC | 1-14 | 3-22 |
