One of those games took place in Niagara and it turned into a festive evening for the Badgers, as they rolled over a short-handed North Dickinson squad 69-25.

Junior forward Logan Weber, freshman wing Tommy Martin and sophomore forward Blake Holmes all scored 15 points, dominating the smallish Nordics with their size and wingspans.

Niagara coach Terry Youren said it’s a challenge to play at this time of year.

“People don’t understand how difficult it is,” the veteran coach said. “It’s the holidays. … I have a very difficult time because I think Christmas is a very special time and it’s not only for the kids, but for the families.

Niagara junior Aiden Colenso (3) rises up to shoot a layup against North Dickinson’s Nicholas Conery (5) on Thursday. The Badgers dominated the game inside with their superior size and ended up with several offensive rebounds, putbacks and layups in the game.

“But we’re dealt the cards and we do what we have to do,” he added.

The Badgers (3-3) opened in a with a pressure defense and the Nordics, playing Maximum Mattson, Wyatt Glasheen and Colt Glasheen, were troubled by the aggressiveness. The Nordics (0-4) committed 12 turnovers before they scored and by then they were down 15.

“We came in a little shorthanded, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that they did the little things much better than we did tonight,” North Dickinson coach Chris Mattson said. “They rebounded the ball with more passion and (Logan Weber) had a whale of a game for them. He dominated the lane and hit the boards hard.”

Weber scored eight quick points during the early run, all within a few feet of the rim.

“He’s very strong and he’s very capable of giving us 15 or 20 a game,” Youren said of Weber. “But the thing is, it’s getting it into their heads to make them believe that they can do that. He’s a nice kid, he works hard, he rebounds extremely well and he did a lot of good things tonight.”

The Niagara Badgers slapped a diamond-and-one trapping press on North Dickinson from the start of Thursday’s game at Niagara High School. Here, Nordic senior Will Smith (44) is trapped by Niagara’s Tommy Martin (11) and Nicholas Krueger (5). The press forced 34 turnovers and Niagara took advantage to record a 69-25 victory.

North Dickinson did make a bit of a run after falling into the deep hole. Senior Will Smith sank two 3-pointers and junior Colin LaFave buried a baseline jumper to slash the deficit to 15-8. But the Badgers answered with a 25-6 surge to close the half with a 40-14 stranglehold on the game.

Things did not get more competitive in the second half. Late in the game, Niagara took a 40-point lead which instituted a running clock for the final five minutes of the contest.

The game finished with Niagara reserve junior guard “T” Coolbaugh sinking a 3-pointer to the delight of players and fans alike.

“He’s a special member of our team and the kids really enjoy him and so all I can say is the kids were awful excited that he made that,” Youren said.

For North Dickinson, a simple and stark question has been posed, according to Mattson.

“We can either feel sorry for ourselves or we can go back to work and start playing a little bit better,” he said. “There were some heads hanging afterwards. We’re a very young team that took one on the chin tonight.”

Smith paced the Nordics with 12 points, all on 3-pointers.