FARGO - It's not often a Class B boys basketball team has six players who can dunk the ball. But that's what Kindred boasts as it cruised to a 71-31 win over Hankinson during Monday's North Dakota Class B Region 1 tournament quarterfinals at the Scheels Center of North Dakota State's Sanford Health Athletic Complex.
"Those dunks can certainly be a big emotional lift for you at times," said Kindred head coach Brad Woehl, whose team will take a 16-4 record into Tuesday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal game against either Central Cass or Lisbon. "They can be momentum changers.
Paul Olson, a 6-foot-4 junior, had four dunks Monday night - three in the first quarter when Kindred built a 17-6 lead.
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"It's just in the moment ... whatever comes," Olson said. "Some games you get a few and other games you don't get any."
Olson led Kindred with 19 points while Jaiden Peraza, lwho averages 8 points per game, added 18 points - including 10 points in the third quarter when Kindred sealed the win with a 16-0 run that made it 51-24.
Hankinson, whose season ends with a 5-14 record, was led by 6-3 senior Austin Bladow who scored 20 points.
H 6 20 31 31
K 17 31 54 71
H: Hernandez 6, Kelley 2, Bladow 20, Meyer 3.
K: Pearson 5, Olson 19, McQuillan 3, Peraza 18, Keller 10, McKenney 2, Woehl 4, Miller 2, Sunram 7, Henrich 2.
