Photo by Samantha Davis. Dawson-Boyd's Drew Hjelmeland goes up for a shot in the first half against Minneota Friday night. Hjelemland had 20 points and 12 rebounds in the Blackjacks' 73-34 win. 

MINNEOTA — The No. 2 Dawson-Boyd boys basketball team limited Minneota to 14 first-half points and built up a 30-point halftime lead to cruise its fifth straight victory, 73-34, Friday night. Brayson Boike and Drew Hjelmeland each notched 20-point double-doubles to lead the Blackjacks.

“We had a little bit of a slow start, and had some bad turnovers right away,” Dawson-Boyd’s Hjelmeland said. “Then we got in a little bit of a groove. I think we got a little sped up in the game, and once we got into our stuff and into our offense, we did a lot better.”

The first few minutes were competitive, as both teams capitalized on each others’ early miscues. However, about midway through the first half is when the Blackjacks found their offensive rhythm. They never allowed Minneota back within reach after obtaining their first double-digit lead.

Along with their 20 points, Hjelmeland finished with 12 rebounds and Boike tallied 11. Gunner Liebl also finished with 17 points and a team-high six assists, and Carson Stratmoen had 10 points.

For Minneota, Easton Johnston had a team-high 9 points, while Hunter Carstensen led with eight rebounds. Tate Peterson had four assists on the night.

The Blackjacks shot 50% from the field, and went 8 for 21 from the 3-point line with three of them coming from Liebl. The Vikings were limited to a 22% shooting from the field, and went 4 of 23 from beyond the arc, two of which came from Johnston.

“I thought our guys came out right away playing with intensity. They [Dawson-Boyd] play very good in your face, pressure defense, and that took us out of our element a little bit on offense,” Minneota head coach Chad Johnston said. “I thought defensively, we were working hard and fighting hard. I think we did the whole game. I mean, we knew it was going to be a battle.”

The last time the Blackjacks and Vikings met was in last season’s Section 3A South semifinals when Minneota upset Dawson-Boyd 61-57 and ended its season.

“We prepare every single week just to play our opponent,” Hjelmeland said. “I mean, we obviously had that in the back of our minds about last year, and so we definitely wanted to make sure it made a statement this time.”

Minneota continues to look for some consistency this season. After starting the season 4-1, the Vikings have been on an up-and-down path since. They went 3-3 over their last six games prior to Friday.

The Blackjacks, meanwhile, won 8 of their last 10 before Friday.

“It’s just little details and stuff like that we got to go through that practice every single day,” Hjelmeland said. “As long as we keep our effort on a high level, we’ll be in a good place.”

Minneota applied defensive pressure to begin the game, forcing a handful of turnovers that flustered Dawson-Boyd. Yet, Minneota finished the night with 15 turnovers to Dawson-Boyd’s 13.

The Vikings also were rebounding effectively, and the two teams traded baskets for several minutes in the first half.

“I think it was just just getting excited at the beginning of the game. We just had to get ready to play again and just get after it,” Hjelmeland said. “They had to get used to our speed, we had to get used to their speed, then we were good.”

That was until Dawson-Boyd turned the heat up and started hitting its shots after a slow start. Once the Blackjacks started on a run, they didn’t let up off the gas.

Liebl led with 13 first half points, while Hjelmeland had 10. Minneota’s Leo Hennen had 7.

Lucas Rybinksi got the night’s first points nearly three minutes into the game after both teams missed their first shot attempts and fought early turnovers.

Dawson-Boyd’s Boike responded to the basket with one of his own. Liebl then sank a 3-pointer to give the Blackjacks the point edge at 5-4.

After Dawson-Boyd was able to slightly pull away 12-6 midway through the half, before it went on a 17-3 run to build up a 29-9 advantage to force Minneota to call a timeout.

Out of the reset, Johnston drilled in a 3-pointer, to which Liebl hit one in return.

Hjelmeland made an and-1 along with the free throw, and another Liebl 3 continued to add to the Blackjacks’ run.

Jaxton Hastad saw a couple good looks as well, and made a layup before Boike hit a midrange jumper as Dawson-Boyd grew to a 33-9 lead.

“They [Dawson-Boyd] don’t allow a lot of easy dribble penetration, and we’re working on that. We’ve been just opening the door for people, and we’re working on using our body a bit better,” Johnston said. “We need to figure out how to do that offensively, just good movement.”

Hjelmeland and Hastad sprinted up the court 2-on-1 after a steal, and Hjelmeland last fed it off to Hastad to finish the break away layup as the half was coming to its final minutes.

“Every night, these guys stay aggressive. Getting a look at matchups, especially for our offense, a bunch of guys, every single one can score the ball,” Hjelmeland said. “We try to look at matchups and see who’s got the best matchup and exploit that.”

Hjelmeland also finished with five assists.

The half ended with a string of moves from the Blackjacks, with a Boike dunk off a steal, Hjemeland’s spin move in the lane for a layup and a Liebl 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Minneota’s Hennen sank a 3 for himself from the left wing to end a scoring drought, however brought the score to a 44-14 Vikings’ deficit at the half.

The Vikings showed hustle in the second half, but Dawson-Boyd continued to run the floor and hit shots to continue its cushioned lead.

Another large game difference was the Blackjacks’ 41 rebounds to Minneota’s 22.

The game went into running clock at the nine minute mark, and the Blackjacks carried on until the final buzzer. Both teams also put their reserves in with a few minutes to go.

“We got to get more consistent with smart play. Things aren’t going to get any easier for us,” Johnston said. “We’re just going to keep on trying to get better and hopefully by postseason, we’re as good as we can be.”

Dawson-Boyd improves to 15-3 and will look for its sixth consecutive win next when it returns home to host Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (7-10) on Tuesday. Minneota (7-10) will next suit up to visit Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (16-2) on Monday. Both games are slated for a 7:30 p.m. tip off.