The Tim Orth Foundation benefits members of the community who have had major medical expenses. This year’s recipients were Lennon Ludewig, who was diagnosed with B cell lymphoblastic leukemia, Azaylia Martinez, who was born as a prematurely, Cashton Pressley, who was also born prematurely, and Lukas Merkel, who was diagnosed with autism.

The events started with a 3-point shooting contest for both the girls teams and the boys teams. Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Morgan Mathiowetz won the 3-point contest for the Tomahawk Division, hitting eight 3-pointers in the first round and four in the championship round. Springfield’s Brayden Sturm won the boys side of the contest, making six shots in the first round and 11 in the second to sweep the contest for the Tomahawk Division.

The girls basketball game followed, with several professional mascots getting involved during the game. Cedar Mountain’s Aubrey Steffl wreaked havoc early with rebounds and steals, helping get the Tomahawk Division out to a 6-2 lead. A 3-pointer from Sleepy Eye’s Paige Haala pushed that lead out to 13-8 and a mid-range jumper from Mathiowetz had the Tomahawk up 28-14 after one quarter.

The mascots got more involved in the second quarter, with one coyote mascot even hitting a 3-pointer for the Red Rock Conference. However, the Tomahawk continued to lead with a 39-26 advantage heading into halftime.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey The Fargo-Moorhead Acro team performs a stunt at the Tim Orth Foundation All Jamboree Basketball Games Friday at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop High School.

At halftime, the Fargo-Moorhead Acro team performed at halftime, with the group tumbling and leaping around the gym. The acro team is one of the top halftime performances at basketball games around the country and performed for the Memphis Grizzlies, Creighton University, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the University of Wisconsin earlier this year.

The Tomahawk trotted out a lineup of Sleepy Eye’s Cadence Okerman, Haala, Steffl, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart’s Lily Hubin and Mathiowetz to start the second half, and the lineup outscored the Red Rock Conference 11-6 before substitutions were made to push the lead out to 50-32. The score was 59-37 at the end of the third quarter, and the Tomahawk went on to win 78-58.

Between games, the Utah Jazz Dunk Team put on a show, performing high-flying dunks one after another. They even put out dunks that had not been seen before, and while not all succeeded, it was still plenty to garner the applause of the crowd.

In the boys game, the Red Rock Conference got out to a 10-0 lead. Sleepy Eye’s Landon Wendinger got a dunk to stop the scoring drought, the first of five for the 6-8 forward. Wendinger got his next one on an off-the-backboard pass from Springfield’s Brayden Sturm, who was looking for Wendinger all game.

“It was great,” Wendinger said. “Brayden was always looking for it, we talked about it on the bench all the time. It was really fun.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye’s Landon Wendinger dunks the basketball during the Tim Orth Foundation All Jamboree Basketball Games Friday at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop High School.

Sturm added that he enjoyed playing with a big man who played above the rim, as he and Wendinger had never played on a team before.

“My whole career, I’ve looked to improve people that are with me on the court,” Sturm said. “A big guy like that, I want him on the rim. I just threw the ball up there and hopefully he went up and got it. And he did a bunch of times. That’s just props to him, he makes the passes look good.”

Sturm said it was special to be able to compete alongside conference opponents after facing off against them for so many years.

“You go against these guys for four years, freshman to senior, you’re always opponents,” he said. “It’s just a blessing to be on the same side of the ball as them. We obviously had some opponents, but having those big guys that we’re used to going against in the Tomahawk was just a blast. Throw some lobs. I’ve been waiting my whole career to do that.”

Wendinger got two more dunks as the Tomahawk started to claw back. GFW’s Easton Taylor hit a deep 3-pointer to cut the lead to 30-28, and a one-handed dunk from Cedar Mountain’s Blake Schueller put the score at 32-30. A putback from St. Marys’ Kessler Severson tied the game a 32, and an acrobatic layup from Schueller gave the Tomahawk it’s first lead at 34-32 at halftime.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Members of the Utah Jazz dunk team go for a pair of dunks simultaneously during the Tim Orth Foundation All Jamboree Basketball Games Friday at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop High School.

The Tomahawk got hot from 3 to open the second half, with New Ulm Cathedral’s Colin Anderson and Sturm both making two 3s to push the lead out to 46-37. The Tomahawk took a 59-57 by the end of the third quarter, and one final alley-oop from Sturm to Wendinger sealed the 79-60 win.

“Honestly, that was the best time I’ve ever had playing basketball,” Wendinger said. “It was so fun working with a brand-new team, brand-new chemistry and just figuring things out. It was really fun.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Cedar Mountain’s Aubrey Steffl goes up for a shot during the Tim Orth Foundation All Jamboree Basketball Games Friday at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop High School.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Springfield’s Brayden Sturm puts up a layup during the Tim Orth Foundation All Jamboree Basketball Games Friday at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop High School.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey The Brigham Young University dances with some kids during the Tim Orth Foundation All Jamboree Basketball Games Friday at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop High School.