Titanic road warriors off to hot start in region play

Entering the 2017-18 season as the two-time defending regional champions, the Titans are 5-0 against region foes this season and currently sit atop the region standings.

However, according to Dickinson Trinity head coach Gregg Grinsteinner, the team's recent success can be directly attributed to flaws discovered in a losing stretch beginning in late December.

Outscored by more than 14 points per game, Trinity limped through a four-game losing streak, but with a lot of bad comes a lot good.

"Our kids learned in those games that we got to do the little things," Grinsteinner said. "We were exposed and had some things exposed that we weren't doing very well. Had to go at practice and clean some of those things up, we haven't cleaned everything up, but our kids are learning how to compete."

Winners of their last five games overall, the Titans have earned four of their five regional wins outside of the Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

"Going on the road is not an easy thing, especially in this region," Grinsteinner said. "I think our kids have bucked down and they are starting to buy in. In the beginning of the year, we didn't have that total buy-in. We are getting that and now we are really working on becoming students of the game."

Defense has stood out during this run as the Titans held their regional opponents to only 46.8 points per game. Four of their five opponents were held well below their season scoring averages.

In a 54-47 victory over Beach on Saturday, Jan. 20, Trinity held the highest scoring team in Region 7 nearly 17 points underneath their season average.

"Every game, you got to come in and say, 'I'm going to outwork you,' and we've been doing a pretty good job of that," sophomore post player Seth Herner said. "Our coaches have always told us that we have to come down with every rebound and we have to box everybody out. That's the fundamentals and that's how you win games."

The season hasn't been without adversity. Junior forward Aric Knopik missed five games after suffering a lower back injury against Minot Our Redeemer's on Jan. 5. Titans leading scorer and senior guard Noah Sickler left action against Richardton-Taylor on Jan. 15 after hurting his shoulder and missed the next game.

But again, a negative became a positive.

"We've gone through some stretches where we've had some kids injured, some kids not playing because of ailments just like everybody else, but our bench kids have really come along," Grinsteinner said. "We've become a lot deeper. At the beginning of the year, we were playing six or seven kids, but we're comfortable playing 10 or 11 kids. Anytime when you can create depth like that during the season, it overcomes those injuries."

Without two of their starters and better rebounders, Herner and 6-foot-3 junior post player Isaac Fridrich have been two players that stepped up in their absence.

"I always come in thinking that if any of our big guys got in foul trouble or injured, I had to be ready," Fridrich said. "Coach Grinsteinner came up to us and said, 'Certain people are getting hurt and you guys have to stand up to the plate.' Seth and I took that as a challenge. We just needed to push ourselves and get better as post players and as a team."

The duo have fully embraced a next-man-up mentality coming off the bench.

"We kind of figured we'd get more playing time," Herner said. "We knew we'd have to just step up, replace them and play our hearts out to be able to compete at the level we're playing against."

Next up on the schedule is the only other undefeated team in Region 7: Beulah. The Titans will travel to face the 8-3 Miners on Thursday, Jan. 25.

Trinity defeated the Miners 67-64 in last season's regional championship game.

"It's a rivalry game," Grinsteinner said. "This has turned into a very spirited rivalry between the two schools, it's been that way in football and in basketball. We've played in a number of regional championship games, including last year. Both programs have very good tradition, that's one thing that brings out the best in each of us.

"Our kids know it's another game, but it's a stepping stone toward a goal of securing a top four seed going into the regional tournament so that you don't have to play that extra game. The next game is the biggest game of the year, that's the same philosophy that we have for any game, but this one has a little extra flavor to it."