BROOKINGS The Sioux Valley Cossacks used a dominant effort from their frontcourt to pick up a 59-47 win over Dell Rapids St. Marys in a battle of undefeated teams at the Michael J. Entringer Scholarship Classic in the Bob Jostad Gymnasium at Brookings High School on Saturday night.
The win helped Sioux Valley improve to 5-0 on the season and came off the heels of an impressive victory over Thunder Basin (Wyo.) at the Corn Palace in Mitchell on Thursday night.
Any win is a big win, but whenever youre going up against a team that is of this caliber and in a big classic showcase, it just makes it feel that much better, Sioux Valley head coach Bill Vincent said of the win. We just had to stay gritty and keep grinding that one out like we did at the Corn Palace. These games make you tougher down the road.
The key to Sioux Valleys victory came in the paint as Hudsyn Ruesink and Alec Squires used their muscle to keep the Cossacks in front. Ruesink was a big presence early scoring 13 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in the first half on the way to earning MVP honors.
With a total of 19 points, 16 rebounds. Ruesink set the tone to come back from the Cardinals 14-12 lead at the end of the first quarter and outscore DRSM 17-9 in the second quarter.
He was really active on the glass tonight, Vincent said of Ruesinks performance. His motor is always running and I think we did a nice job of winning in the paint whether it was on the glass or getting touches near the basket. The rest of our game just fell into place.
In addition to Ruesinks rebounding performance, he also helped get his teammates involved. Squires was another Cossack who had a big game, scoring 18 points to go with 15 rebounds.
While Squires did a great job establishing his presence, it was Ruesink who helped get him going, dishing out six assists to go with a pair of steals on defense.
He just did a nice job of playing off what they were doing defensively, Vincent said of Ruesink. They were bringing extra people over and he knew where Alec was at all times and that helped him make some nice passes out of those double teams.
With Maxwell Engebretson adding 11 points and Maverick Nelson scoring six points, Sioux Valley had enough balance to take a 46-37 lead at the end of the third quarter and out-scored the Cardinals 13-10 in the fourth quarter to earn the win.
Although Trevon Beckman led DRSM with 22 points and six rebounds and Trimmier Hanson and Nic Gaspar had nine points each, Sioux Valley was able to limit the Cardinals defensively, holding DRSM to 33 percent from the floor and just 9-for-29 (31%) on 3-pointers.
With Sioux Valley also out-rebounding DRSM 40-24 and forcing eight turnovers, it was an effort that Vincent would like to see the Cossacks repeat beginning with next weeks Big East Tournament.
We just want to continue to grow as a team, Vincent said. We want to find those pieces, grow confidence and strengthen our bench so we can go a little deeper into games.
The Cossacks, who are now 5-0 on the season, will open the Big East Tournament on Thursday with a matchup against Garretson in Garretson before the final two rounds on Friday and Saturday in Baltic.
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