BISMARCK — Near the end of Saturday’s BHRA/Heritage Tournament game against Phalen Academy, Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin senior guard Keison Peoples took a rare look at the scoreboard.
“I didn’t look at the scoreboard until halftime and then I looked at with about two minutes left and I was like ‘Oh, wow, that is crazy’ but I am blessed and thankful for it,” Peoples said.
What Peoples was thankful for was a new BHRA single-game scoring mark with 56 points as the Blue Devils beat the Falcons 75-69.
“It was never something I wanted to force, because it is more of a team game than individual,” Peoples said. “I knew it would come and if didn’t, it didn’t, but it did tonight. It came naturally and it wasn’t forced and it is nice to have.”
Peoples broke the mark set by Brandon McCorkle, who had 42 points in a game in 2002.
“It was crazy, but I am thankful my team trusted me and everyone encouraged me,” Peoples said. “It came down to preparation and skill and that’s what we work on and everyone stepped up when I passed them the ball. I think we shot over 50 percent after I passed the ball, so it was a real great team effort.”
“He’s in a league of his own, no doubt about and he kept his composure all night,” BHRA head coach Gary Tidwell said. “They were throwing a lot of defenders at him and he didn’t rush it. He took his time and passed the ball when he needed to pass the ball. He took the critical shots when we needed him to score. When they made their run late, he kept his composure and we felt he needed to keep the ball in his hands as much as we could and he did a good job of leading our team and putting points on the board.”
Peoples started with 15 points in the first quarter, including the final basket to give BHRA a 17-16 lead. The Blue Devils would get leads as large as nine points, but the Falcons kept fighting back to get close all game.
“They are an athletic team and had a a lot of players back from last season and they only lost by 10 to our team, which was led by mostly seniors,” Tidwell said. “I am proud of our guys for handling the pressure well and the role players did a good job playing their role and getting in to the spots they needed to. I thought we gave up too much penetration throughout the game, but when it counted and had to get stops, we made some plays.”
Reed Zarate had seven points for the Blue Devils, while Noah Rice had five, Mason Clapp had four and Elijah Tidwell added three.
The fourth quarter saw Phalen Academy take a slight lead early on, but with some key defensive plays and Peoples’ 17 points in the quarter, they were able to take the lead back and the game.
“They wanted to hold on to the ball and get us out of the zone, but I thought our team adjusted well out of that and we had some key stops,” Tidwell said. “Keison had some 3-opint play opportunities and took some pressure off the defense.”
Earlier in the day, the Blue Devils beat Milford 78-59 with Peoples scoring 26 points, Tidwell scoring 13, Zarate scoring 12 and Connor Benjamin added 11.
Tidwell said that the lack of Armstrong-Potomac from this year’s tournament is tough, but the competition from teams like Phalen and Providence Christo Rey is key for later in the season.
“It was disappointing that we lost a team, but this side was loaded athletically,” Tidwell said. “We like having the Indianapolis teams here because there is a level of athleticism that we are not used to seeing that we could see in the postseason and it worked well for us last season. It’s a good experience for us, it is a speed at another level that we have to improve on but I thought we handled it as the game went on.”
With Peoples being the only starter returning from last season’s Elite Eight team, he knows that it is tough, but with a 9-2 record so far, he knows this year’s team is tough as well.
“We had a little more experience and that carried us a lot,” Peoples said. “We may not have much experience this year, but we have fight and it has taken us a long way. Everybody is coachable and everyone is listening and doing what they need to do. Nobody is worried about anything but winning as a team and that’s great.”
With an undefeated 3-0 record on their side, the Blue Devils advanced to Monday’s championship game at Heritage High School against Cerro Gordo-Bement at 7 p.m.
“It is always a challenge because you haven’t played the preliminary games there,” Tidwell said. “But it has been good to us over the years and (Peoples) has been a part of it for the last three and hopefully we can carry this momentum over and play well.”
While Cerro Gordo-Bement won at Heritage, Salt Fork was close to making it. After losing their first game on Friday to Cerro Gordo-Bement, the Storm defeated Georgetown-Ridge Farm 46-37 and host Heritage 60-45 for a 2-1 record.
Maddux Stine had 12 points for the Storm against the Buffaloes, while Ian Church had 10 and Braxton Clem and Zayden Bromley each had seven. Against Heritage, Stine had 12 points, while Ian Church had 11 and Weston Church and Clem each added 10.
Jase Latoz had 13 for Geo-RF against Salt Fork, while Austin Grider had eight and William Runyan added seven. The Buffaloes lost to Cerro Gordo-Bement 54-38 as Latoz had 13, Deven Vice had 10 and Runyan added eight.
Salt Fork played Phalen Academy for third on Monday, while Geo-RF will take on Milford at 11:30 a.m. for seventh.