FARGO — A lot can change in a matter of four days. Just ask the Fargo North boys basketball team.
After the Spartans fell to West Fargo Sheyenne in the teams' final regular season game last Friday, North regrouped Tuesday night with a 72-57 win over the Mustangs in an Eastern Dakota Conference quarterfinal game at the SpartanDome.
No. 2 seed North (15-7) will now face No. 3 Grand Forks Red River (16-6) in the EDC semifinals at 7:15 p.m. Friday night at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex.
Jeremiah Sem led the Spartans with 32 points. It was his first of three slam dunks that capped a 9-2 run to open the second half, putting North up 40-25 and well in control.
Sem said it's those plays that electrified the gym and helped the Spartans build momentum the rest of the way.
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"I think the gym and the environment just goes up," Sem said. "And we just feed off of that and go off of that."
While Sem's signature dunks wowed the SpartanDome crowd, it was clamp-down defense that secured the win for North this time around.
"We just had to lock in on 'D,' " Sem said. "(Sheyenne) hit some big shots in the last two minutes of the last game, so we just had to lock in on 'D' and bring the pressure."
Aside from containing Sheyenne big man Tommy Ahneman and veteran starter Caleb Duerr, Spartans head coach Travis Hoeg said lockdown defense was a point of emphasis throughout practice.
"The second focus for us was to get into bodies and play some defense," Hoeg said. "Keep bodies in front, don't give up open threes and I think tonight might've been one of the best defensive games that we've played in man all season long."
Sem scored the game's first bucket but Sheyenne's Dylan Beyl responded with a triple to give the Mustangs their only lead of the game at 3-2 and prompted Hoeg to call a very early timeout.
"It was a quick timeout to reiterate the plan to our defense from the last two days: Get out on shooters," Hoeg said. "Let's not lose this ball game because we're leaving the 3-point line open."
No. 7 seed Sheyenne (10-13) moves into the loser-out bracket and will face No. 6 Grand Forks Central (12-11) Friday at 3:45 p.m. at the SHAC.
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"The energy level for both teams was high, but I think (North's) was a little big higher than ours," Mustangs head coach Tim Brandt said. "They came out with a different level of defensive pressure that bothered us quite a bit and they were really successful with it.
"We didn't hit as many shots (tonight) as we did on Friday. Those two things added together were the big story I think."
North finished 28-of-66 shooting for 42 percent. Sheyenne was slightly better, going 22-of-51 for 43 percent.
The Spartans were a perfect 9-of-9 at the free throw line, with Sem sinking seven of them while his younger brother Matthew Sem hit the other pair. The Mustangs were 3-of-6 at the stripe.
Matthew Sem finished with 18 points to follow Jeremiah in scoring while Welcome Muhoza finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Pacing the Mustangs was Barry Kpeenu with 19 points — including five triples — while Duerr finished with 11. Beyl led Sheyenne with six boards while Noah Olson tacked on eight points and four assists.
Halftime: Fargo North 31, West Fargo Sheyenne 23
WFS: Kpeenu 19, Duerr 11, Beyl 8, Clemenson 6, Ihry 4, Ahneman 4, Olson 3, Duot 2.
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FN: J. Sem 32, M. Sem 18, Muhoza 10, DeBoer 6, Zeller 6.
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