You’re not using the term lightly when talking about the Waldorf men’s basketball team earning a home postseason game Saturday evening inside the Hanson Fieldhouse.
In a game you heard live on KIOW 107.3 FM, the ball was in the Warrior’s court, needing to knock off one of the conference leaders, Mayville State, to earn a home postseason game in the North Star Athletic Association tournament – Waldorf did just that.
Waldorf and Mayville State were back and forth for much of the contest, but with two minutes left in the second half, Waldorf was down 40-32. That was before the Warriors rattled off eight straight points. The final two of which were free throws from former Forest City prep Noah Miller.
After Waldorf took the lead 61-59, it was coming down to free throw shooting, and in the final 16 seconds, Miller and teammate Khyle Washington went 4/4 from the line, giving Waldorf the 65-59 victory to create a four-way tie for third place in the conference standing, and with the tiebreaking rules, Waldorf gets the third-place nod.
You have to also give credit to the Waldorf defense, the Warriors held the Comets to no field goals in the final 5:12. Waldorf outscored Mayville State 35-23 in the second half, helped out by that defensive effort. Waldorf out rebounded the Comets, committed less turnovers, and got seven more points off the bench than Mayville did.
Khyle Washington led the way with 15 points, Ugo Ejiofor, 13, and Kaelon Harkem 10 were the other starters in double-figures for Waldorf. Gabriel Sorensen had two points off the Waldorf bench while Khalil Grayson added the other 9 from the reserves. Miller ended with seven including a 4/4 night from the line and made one of his five three-point attempts.
The win also pushes Dickinson State to the 6th seed, forcing the Blue Hawks to travel 11 hours to Forest City on Wednesday to play Waldorf to open the conference tournament.
The game is set for 7:00 PM inside the Hanson Fieldhouse, with the winner getting the winner of #2 Mayville State or #7 Valley City State in the conference semifinals.
