WESTVILLE — Returning to the court for the first time since they wrapped up a perfect 13-0 Vermillion Valley Conference season five days ago, the top-seeded Bismarck-Henning Blue Devils picked up right where they left off with a 64-45 win over the fourth-seeded Watseka Warriors in Class 2A regional action.

Ranked seventh in the most recent Associated Press Class 2A poll, the Blue Devils were led by a game-high 18 points from Tanner Ribbe with Krystian Ingram adding 16 and Austin Toler 13.

The Blue Devils had quarters of 17, 16, 15, and 16 points.

“We have six guys on our team who can score at anytime,” said Bismarck-Henning coach Deon Mennenga. “We can also score in a hurry and that makes us a tough match-up for teams. Our guys are almost unselfish to a fault, the guys know each other well, and a lot of the guys have been playing together since junior high. This wasn’t the prettiest of games for us, but we got the win and it gets us to the regional final.”

The Blue Devils forced turnovers on the Warriors’ first two possessions and broke open a close game with a 12-2 run, which gave the Blue Devils a 17-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. Ingram would finish the period with 10 points.

“We try to put on a high amount of pressure and force turnovers not only full court but also in different half court sets,” said Blue Devils senior Stephen Krout. “We can get up underneath guys on defense because we know there will another guy there to help.”

The Blue Devils would take their largest lead of the game at 31-8 early in the second quarter and took a 33-13 lead into halftime, with Ribbe scoring 10 points in the second quarter.

“Our focus wasn’t right at times tonight, but the defensive effort was very good in the first half,” Mennenga said. “You still have to buckle down and play the game and our guys did execute to the best of their abilities.”

The teams traded baskets in the third quarter with the Blue Devils ending the period with a 48-29 lead. Fouls slowed the pace of the fourth quarter, which ended with both teams scoring 16 points.

“This was a very physical game,” Krout said. “We had a good rhythm going in the first half, but could never really find one in the second half.”

Mennenga was happy for his team, but saw some areas for improvement.

“We did have some defensive lapses in the second half and in a lot of ways this was a rough game,” he said. “Our kids played very hard as they have all season and deserved to win though. We have won a lot of games this year, but we are not satisfied and we try to play every game like we have something to prove.”

The Blue Devils move to 27-2 overall and return to action Friday in the regional final at Westville.

“Some people may think we are a soft 7th-ranked team in the state, but I wouldn’t care if we were ranked No. 1, this is a team that still has a lot of potential left to fulfill,” Mennenga said. “This is a great group of guys, one of the best I’ve ever been around.

“Since Tanner, Krystian and Stephen were freshmen we have talked about winning a regional and we recall very clearly what happened in our final game last year and how disappointed we were to lose that one. We are not happy to just be in a regional final. We feel the sky is the limit for this team.”