GRAND FORKS — Fargo Davies freshman Mason Klabo was the talk of the game this week in North Dakota basketball.

The brother of former UND women’s basketball player Lexi Klabo, Mason scored 45 points in a game against Fargo North on Tuesday and received a scholarship offer from North Dakota State on Friday.

On Saturday afternoon against Grand Forks Red River, the Roughriders defensive game plan centered on Klabo, who Red River dedicated a defender to face guard and not help him.

The Riders’ efforts may have slowed Klabo down, but the state’s No. 3 Eagles showed they had plenty of other weapons, too.

Klabo, a 6-foot guard, scored 16 points as one of four double-digit Davies players as the Eagles held off an 81-70 Red River comeback effort in the Red River gym.

“It was good for him to see he could relate to that,” said Davies’ coach Bart Manson, who was head coach at Red River from 1998 to 2007. “I think he was a bit frustrated. He’ll have to adjust to him, and we’re going to film him and watch him. But it created other opportunities for other kids. I thought Max Froslie came out and played really well for us. He had a big game.

Ian Motschenbacher scored a team-high 18 points, while Raymond Brown added 13 and Froslie had 12 points, including a few dunks. Klabo went 8 for 17 with six assists, five rebounds and three steals, as well as a dunk while all alone in transition.

“Although (Klabo) has been the focus, they have (Motschenbacher) and (Brown) and you have to watch out for them as well,” Red River coach Kirby Krefting said. “We knew that when we walked in.”

Davies started the second half on an 8-0 run to take a 19-point lead at 48-29, but the Riders lost the lead from there.

Red River pulled the lead to 59-54 when Zac Kraft made three free throws after being fouled on a long-range attempt with 6:55 left.

From there, Klabo committed his fourth foul for the Eagles and had to sit out.

The Riders had about five possessions with about five minutes left to make it a one-score game, but the Eagles did just enough to hold on to the lead.

A quick 6-0 flurry – a Froslie dunk, a Motschenbacher finish inside on a Froslie feed and a Brown bucket on the fastbreak – cut the Eagles’ lead to 12 with four minutes remaining.

The Riders were led by Kraft, who had 20 points, followed by Paine Parks with 16, Reis Rowekamp with 13, Carter Byron with 11 and Logan Arason with 10.

Nick Nelson/Grand Forks Herald

Red River struggled to manage the ball at times, committing 16 turnovers.

“I thought defensively we were really good,” Manson said. “When we watched (Red River) play against West Fargo, we knew the Red River kids could pull it because I think that night they made 16 threes. We didn’t want to give them those easy looks , so I really I think it was just a credit to our defense and finding these guys and getting them to make some tough shots.”

The Eagles edged the Riders 57% to 37% from the field. But Red River resisted thanks to a free-throw advantage. The Riders went 19 of 27 (70%) from the line, while Davies was just 6 of 20 (30%) from the foul strip.

Davies improved to 7-1, while Red River fell to 4-3.

“We showed we could shoot the ball on Tuesday when we were 16 of 25 (on 3-pointers in a road win over West Fargo),” Krefting said. “The basketball game goes where some days they don’t. We still have to have the confidence that we can shoot it. Now we have to bounce back and see what we can do against Devils Lake on Tuesday.”

Nick Nelson/Grand Forks Herald