Basketball Recap: Kellen Artz Leads a Balanced Attack to Beat Tri-Valley

There's no place like home for Baltic, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Friday. They blew past the Tri-Valley Mustangs 65-41 on Monday. The Bulldogs have seen this before: they got the W the last time they saw the Mustangs, too.

Kellen Artz

Points (Career)

02/24/25 vs Tri-Valley	25
02/13/25 @ Canton	20
12/20/24 @ Sioux Valley	17
01/30/24 vs Garretson	16
01/20/25 vs West Central	15

Baltic's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Kellen Artz led the charge by to rack up 25 points in addition to seven boards and five assists. Those 25 points gave Artz a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Ben Erickson, who dropped a double-double with ten points and 12 assists.

Artz wasn't the only one working in the assist department: Baltic was working as a unit and finished the game with 25 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Baltic pushed their record up to 11-8 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.3 points over those games. As for Tri-Valley, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost 11 of their last 12 matches. That's put a noticeable dent in their 4-15 record this season.

We've got a battle between Bulldogs coming up. Baltic will need to watch out since Madison has now posted at least 55 points in their last three games. As for Tri-Valley, they will take on Sioux Falls Christian at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Sioux Falls Christian has four straight wins, Tri-Valley has eight straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.