North Dakota
Kindred Vikings defeat Shiloh Christian, advance to third boys state basketball title game in four years
FARGO — For the third time in four years, the Kindred Vikings are heading to a boys basketball state championship game.
Kindred defeated the Shiloh Christian Skyhawks 56-46 in Friday night’s North Dakota Division A state semifinal at the Fargodome to advance to the title game.
The Vikings will take on the
Devils Lake Firebirds, who defeated Grafton in the semifinals
, in Saturday’s championship game
After missing a chance to go to the Class B tournament last season, the Vikings are glad to be back in a title game this year, said coach Brad Woehl.
David Samson/The Forum
“It feels really good,” said Woehl. “We have a great group of kids. We fell a little short of going to the state tournament last year against Central Cass.
“These kids have worked hard and put a lot of time into it. A lot of time and dedication. I am very proud of them.”

David Samson/The Forum
Kindred’s Karson Ouse started off hot going 4 of 4 on threes in the first quarter to help the Vikings establish a lead just over a minute in. They never relinquished it.
Ouse finished with a team-high 24 points, finishing with six triples and going 9 of 12 from the field.
“It was important for us (to start strong),” Ouse said. “We came out a little slow yesterday, I thought. We just had to come out strong against these guys because they’re a really good team and they weren’t going to lay down at all.”
For the second night in a row, Kindred’s Jake Starcevic helped get the energy rolling early for the Vikings with the first basket of the game and a handful of steals in the first half.

David Samson/The Forum
Like Ouse, Starcevic felt that setting the tone high early was an important factor in getting the win.
“The first three minutes is always huge in any half of basketball,” Starcevic said. “We always come out and try to start fast. We came out and started fast. We let them creep back in a little bit but held them at arm’s length for most of the game.”
Starcevic had eight points while Vikings’ teammates Presley Peraza and Jack Davis each had nine.

David Samson/The Forum
“It was awesome,” said Starcevic. “Shiloh is a really good team. We played them tough and they played us tough. Any time you can get a state semifinal win, it feels good. But we’re not satisfied with that. We have some more work to do.
“Devils Lake is a very good team. We’re going to go into (Saturday) with confidence and let the chips fall where they may.”
Ouse shared similar feelings about moving on to the championship game against Devils Lake.
“It’s just an unreal feeling with how much success this program has had,” said Ouse. “We’ve been dreaming of this since the start of the season. But we’re not done yet. We want to go get one more.”
Shiloh Christian’s Atticus Wilkinson scored a team-high 13 points with teammates Caden Englund and James Melberg also cracking double digits with 12 and 10 points. Englund and Wilkinson each had eight rebounds.

David Samson/The Forum
Kindred will battle the Devils Lake Firebirds on Saturday for the Division A boys basketball state championship.
Going into the game, the still undefeated Kindred Vikings aren’t focused on their record. The attention, said Woehl, is all on the championship game.
“We don’t talk about not having a loss on the season,” Woehl said. “Devils Lake is going to be a tough matchup. They match our length and physicality. It’s going to be a great game and I’m looking forward to it.”

David Samson/The Forum
Saturday’s Division A boys basketball state championship game is set to tip off at 5 p.m. and can be seen on WDAY or streamed on WDAY+.
Shiloh Christian 11 11 14 10 — 46
Kindred 18 10 13 15 — 56
SC: Wilkinson 13, Englund 12, Melberg 10, Westin 7, D. Davis 4.
KIND: Ouse 24, Peraza 9, Davis 9, J. Starcevic 8, Bakko 4, Sunram 2.

David Samson/The Forum

David Samson/The Forum

David Samson/The Forum
North Dakota
Recap: Penn State wrestling sets NCAA history with 77th consecutive dual meet win
Penn State goes two for two and sets a new NCAA record
12/20/2025 07:26:07 PM
Penn State won two matches at the Collegiate Wrestling Duals and has set a new NCAA Division I record with 77 consecutive dual meet victories. The Lions pass Oklahoma State’s previous mark of 76 by beating Stanford 42-0. Earlier in the day, Penn State shut out North Dakota State.
Here are the full results from both matches:
PSU vs. NDSU
125 pounds: No. 2 Luke Lilledahl, Penn State d. No. 31 Ezekiel Witt, NDSU, 6-5 (PSU 3-0)
133 pounds: No. 10 Marcus Blaze, PSU md. No. 29 Tristan Daugherty, NDSU, 11-3 (PSU 7-0)
141 pounds: Nate Desmond, Penn State d. Michael Olson, NDSU, 4-1 (PSU 10-0)
149 pounds: No. 1 Shayne Van Ness, PSU TF No. 24 Max Petersen, NDSU, 19-2 (5:16) (PSU 15-0)
157 pounds: No. 8 PJ Duke, Penn State md. No. 21 Gavin Drexler, NDSU, 16-5 (PSU 19-0)
165 pounds: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU TF Boeden Greenley, NDSU 18-1 (3:45) (PSU 24-0)
174 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, Penn State F. Max Magayna, NDSU (1:38) (PSU 30-0)
184 pounds: No. 4 Rocco Welsh, PSU TF Andrew McMcgonagle, NDSU, 19-4 (6:17) (PSU 35-0)
197 pounds: Josh Barr, Penn State TF Devin Wasley, NDSU, 19-3 (3:20) (PSU 40-0)
285 pounds: No. 13 Cole Mirasola, PSU F Drew Blackburn, NDSU (:33) (PSU 46-0)
PSU vs. Stanford
125 pounds: No. 2 Luke Lilledahl, Penn State d. No. 12 Nicco Provo, Stanford, 4-2 (PSU 3-0)
133 pounds: No. 10 Marcus Blaze, PSU F No. 6 Tyler Knox, Stanford (6:44) (PSU 9-0)
141 pounds: #Nate Desmond Penn State md. Lain Yapoujian, Stanford, 9-0 (PSU 13-0)
149 pounds: No. 1 Shayne Van Ness, PSU d. 14 Aden Valencia, Stanford, 10- 4 (PSU 16-0)
157 pounds: No. 8 PJ Duke, Penn State d. No. 5 Daniel Cardenas, Stanford, 5-2 (PSU 19-0)
165 pounds: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU F. EJ Parco, Stanford (4:23) (PSU 25-0)
174 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU md. Lorenzo Norman, Stanford, 14-4 (PSU 29-0)
184 pounds: No. 4 Rocco Welsh, PSU d. Abraham Wojcikiewicz, Stanford, 5-1 (PSU 32-0)
197 pounds: Josh Barr, PSU TF No. 19 Angelo Posada, Stanford, 19-3 (PSU 37-0)
285 pounds: No. 13 Cole Mirasola PSU TF Luke Duthie, Stanford, 21-6 (2:59) (PSU 42-0)
North Dakota
Suffolk prosecutors intercept, return scammed cash to North Dakota grandmother
An 80-year-old North Dakota grandmother scammed out of $8,500 has her money back after Suffolk County prosecutors and postal inspectors traced the package of cash, which was mailed to a Shirley address, and returned it earlier this week, district attorney’s officials said.
Officials said the woman received a call Dec. 12 from someone pretending to be her granddaughter, saying she had been in a traffic accident in Suffolk County and needed bail money.
The caller said she was charged with three crimes and then handed the phone to a man posing as her lawyer, who gave the grandmother instructions on how to send cash through the mail, district attorney’s officials said.
The grandmother mailed the cash, but the man kept calling, pestering her for more money, prosecutors said. The woman, who eventually realized she had been scammed, called police in Devils Lake, North Dakota, and reported the con.
Detectives, who made no arrests, tracked the package to Shirley. The Suffolk County Financial Crimes Bureau then worked with inspectors from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to intercept the package two hours after it arrived on Wednesday and returned the money to the North Dakota woman.
“Our office is dedicated to combating scammers who prey on the senior citizen community, who criminals believe to be easy prey,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said in a statement. “Bad actors should know that Suffolk County will not be a haven for mailing scams, and that we will do everything within our power to prevent citizens from being swindled by predatory scammers.”
North Dakota
Bill to improve rural veteran health care sees support from North Dakota providers
WASHINGTON, D.C. — North Dakota organizations have submitted letters of support for a federal bill that would improve veterans’ access to local health care options, which has been examined by the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
The bill – the Critical Access for Veterans Care Act – from Sen. Kevin Cramer and Sen. Tim Sheehy would allow veterans living in the rural United States to seek health care services at their local critical access hospitals or rural health clinics, a press release said.
“The Community Care program literally can be a lifeline,” said Cramer, R-N.D. “(What) prevents it from being a lifeline as often as it ought to be is all of the roadblocks that get put up. After hearing from veterans and rural health care providers and leaders across North Dakota, I proposed a solution with Sen. Sheehy to simplify access to the critical access network, whether it’s a critical access hospital (or) rural health clinic.”
Cramer and Sheehy’s (R-Mont.) bill would amend the VA (Veterans Affairs) MISSION Act of 2018 to make a new category under which “care is required to be furnished through community providers, specifically for care sought by a veteran residing within 35 miles of the critical access hospital or rural health clinic,” the release said.
The release also said a number of veterans live in rural areas and face major challenges to accessing timely and quality health care. In North Dakota, there are 37 critical access hospitals, but only five of those communities housing them also have a VA community-based outpatient clinic. The state has one VA medical center in Fargo and eight community-based outpatient clinics in total.
The bill has received letters of support from the North Dakota Rural Health Association and a coalition of 22 North Dakota rural health care providers, the release said, who wrote that the legislation will offer a streamlined and practical approach building on existing infrastructure and recognized designations in rural health care. The American Hospital Association, America’s Warrior Partnership and the National Rural Health Association have also voiced support for the bill.
Another letter of support for the bill has come from Marcus Lewis, CEO of the North Dakota Veteran and Critical Access Hospital. A veteran himself, he said he lives more than three hours from the nearest VA hospital and works two hours away from it. However, there are three community health care facilities within 50 miles of his home.
“Despite the availability of this high quality local care, I am currently paying out of pocket for needed therapy because accessing services through the Community Care Network has proven prohibitively difficult,” he wrote.
Cramer said the VA system gives veterans less access to care that is readily available, and the goal of the bill is to give rural veterans access to their local critical access hospitals without strings attached.
“I worry if the bill is watered down, quite honestly, that we turn the authority back over to the bureaucracy to decide,” he said.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
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