Honkers fly past Eagles in region final
Braves trip up Crusaders for third
By Jerry W. Kram
The New Town Eagles entered the Region 8 boys basketball tournament at Williston State College as distinct underdogs. The 12-10 Eagles had notched regular season wins over only two of the other teams in the tournament and had suffered double digit losses as the hands of top teams in the tournament.
So it looked like it was going to be a Cinderella story when the Eagles repaid the Stanley Blue Jays for a 92 point drubbing in the regular season by scoring 95 points in the opening round of the tournament and then handing the ranked Parshall Braves their only loss to a regional opponent in a back and forth battle that saw 10 lead changes over the course of the game. With two big upsets under their belt, the Eagles were confident going into Thursday’s final against the top seed from District 16, the Kenmare Honkers.
The Eagles’ Cinderella surge was not to be. The Honkers used a stifling man-to-man defense to jump out to a 19 point lead in the first quarter and held on to a double digit lead for much of the rest of the game to claim the Region 8 crown with a 83-70 victory.
