United Tribes Wins Region XIII Championship
Thunderbirds advance to District Championship
When United Tribes men's basketball head coach Pete Conway first took the job back in March 2015, he had his sights set on ending the program's national tournament drought.
Until Sunday afternoon, the closest Conway and the Thunderbirds had gotten was multiple cracks at a region title, falling agonizingly short in each of the past two seasons when they lost the Region XIII Championship game by a combined four points across the two seasons, including buzzer beater and a three-point loss to Dakota County Technical College in overtime last year.
Agony was replaced by triumph and smiles at the end of this year's Region XIII championship game, as the Thunderbirds beat Dakota College-Bottineau for the fourth time this season, 72-64, at James Henry Gymnasium.
Earning Region XIII tournament MVP efforts for his play, Cayden Redfield had a big game in leading the Thunderbirds to the title, dropping a game-high 24 points, grabbing eight rebounds, dishing out two assists and nabbing a steal.
"Those postseason honors are great, but they're team honors, we don't get things like tournament MVP without winning this game," Conway said. "Without getting contributions from everybody, you're not getting Coach of the Year."
Sunday's title bout against the Lumberjacks couldn't have been any different from Saturday's semifinal against Gogebic Community College.
"We had to play defense and rebound, and I thought we did a pretty good job on their two high-scoring guards," Conway said of Bottineau's Brendan Redhead and Max Groom, who averaged 23.5 and 19.8 points per game, respectively, but who were held to 22 and 15 points on Sunday. "We were hoping some of the offensive firepower would carry over to today, but I don't know that we made more than one three-pointer in the second half. We had good looks, but things weren't falling and when that happens, your defense and rebounding can keep you in the game, and that was the case today."
Dakota College-Bottineau had a much less easy go of it against Dakota County Technical College in their semifinal, playing all of their starters at least 27 minutes and likely only having it not be five of five because of Phil Gibaut fouling out in an 88-79 win.
Beating a team four times in a season suggests there's something that the winning team has that the losing team doesn't, and Conway fully believes depth was the reason behind Tribes being able to hold off the Lumberjacks on Sunday.
"We were a little deeper than they were, we had guys that we could bring in and sub with some versatility, but they were relying on their two guards."
But as with any Mon-Dak matchup, nothing came easy for the Thunderbirds.
Bottineau opened the game on an 8-2 run, with United Tribes responding right back with a 10-0 run to take a 12-8 lead with 13:40 to go.
"(Playing a team four times) makes it easier for scouting, we don't have to go over a lot, but it's a blessing and a curse, playing a team four times, because it's hard to beat a team four times in the same season," Conway said. "We talked every time we played Bottineau that we have to contest everything, make sure we're good on the help side defense, and while they'll make shots, they have to work for everything they get."
"(Bottineau) is a team that can score in a hurry with (Redhead and Groom) out there, and that's basketball, we always tried to answer their runs with one of our own," Conway said. "I told the guys after Saturday's game, I've coached in I think six region championship games and we've lost a few close, but I had more confidence in this group than I've had in other groups going into a championship game, and credit to them, they went out and proved it."
The Thunderbirds didn't waver, and after taking the lead back, they relied on their defense and free-throw shooting (22-for-24) to close out the win.
The Thunderbirds now turn their attention to the District tournament next Saturday, which they will be hosting at a time and against an opponent that are, as of yet, unknown.
But with the Region championship in their pocket, Conway feels confident about his team's ability to get the job done in getting them to the national stage.
"Every juco program is always trying to get to that national tournament, but it's been 22 years and that's too long," Conway said. "This group has come a long ways."