VOLGA The weather outside didnt feel like February but the atmosphere inside the Cossack Center certainly reminded basketball fans that tournament time is right around the corner.
Playing in front of a packed gymnasium, the Sioux Valley Cossacks improved to 13-0 on the season, earning a 44-35 win over a Flandreau team that brought its best defensively and showed they are also ready for the tournament.
It was a pretty typical Flandreau/Sioux Valley game, Cossacks head coach Bill Vincent said of the win. Both teams are going to know each other really, really well and make each other earn it.
The game began with an intensity on both ends of the court as Alec Squires paced Sioux Valley with four early points but the Fliers made sure the Cossacks secondary weapons couldnt get going on the way to Flandreau holding a 10-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Theyve got some kids that can really shoot the ball and have some other players that can be troublesome, Flandreau head coach Brendan Sheppard said of Sioux Valley. Our whole philosophy on defense is that were trying to control the players that can score and make somebody else beat us and we showed that tonight.
Led by Xavier Biens five points in the first quarter, Flandreau took a 10-6 lead and stayed in front until Sioux Valley went on a 9-0 run that was capped off by back-to-back 3-pointers from Maxwell Engebretson and Maverick Nelson that gave the Cossacks a 20-16 lead.
They got us going and brought some energy to the game, Vincent said of Engebretson and Nelsons 3-pointers. Those plates got us going and loosened things up a bit as it was just a grind to come up with any points in the paint.
The Cossacks took a 24-21 lead into halftime and although Engebretson knocked down a 3-pointer to open the third quarter, the Fliers stayed within striking distance with Luke Sheppard knocking down a 3-pointer of his own to tie the game at 31.
Sioux Valley went into the fourth quarter with a 33-31 lead and leaned on its defense to close the game out, out-scoring the Fliers 11-4 in the final frame to close out the victory.
We knew early on with a couple of guys out of the rotation that we were going to have to stay foul free and be pretty smart to buy some time before we could crank up the defense later in the game, Vincent said. Our guys did just that and allowed us to play defense like we did in the fourth quarter.
Engebretson finished with a game-high 18 points with three rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Cossacks while Alec Squires finished with nine points, seven rebounds, two blocks and an assist and Nelson finished with nine points, three rebounds, three steals and an assist.
While the Fliers came up on the short end, they still showed plenty of balance offensively with Sheppard scoring 12 points with four rebounds, two steals and an assist and Paul Parsley adding eight points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.
With Xavier Bien adding eight points, three rebounds, two steals, two assists and a block, Brendan Sheppard liked what he saw from his team in the aftermath of Tuesdays loss to Dell Rapids.
We probably didnt have our best effort against Dell Rapids, so we challenged the boys to come in and compete tonight, Brendan Sheppard said. We competed really hard and were still an extremely young team. Weve got kids coming up still that need to mature and develop into role scorers, but I was just really proud of our efforts tonight.
Sioux Valley shot 39 percent in the game including 5-for-18 (27.8%) on 3-point attempts. The Cossacks made 9-of-11 (81.8%) of their free throws, committed 14 turnovers and out-rebounded the Fliers 19-16.
Flandreau shot 39 percent in the game including 8-for-19 (42.1%) on 3-pointers. The Fliers made 1-of-4 (25%) free throws and committed 19 turnovers.
With the loss the Fliers fell to 9-6 on the season and will host Elkton-Lake Benton on Saturday night before embarking on a final stretch that includes games against fourth-ranked De Smet on Tuesday and at home against Baltic on Feb. 23.
The Cossacks also improved to 14-0 and now 2-0 in a stretch of five opponents with winning records over seven games. That stretch will continue on Saturday when the Cossack face De Smet at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls and help prepare Sioux Valley as they look to make a tournament run this spring.
Its February and this is what basketball looks like, Vincent said. Everyone has been practicing for two months and at this stage of the season, everyone is just good. Thats what youve been seeing out here in these local games that Ive been going out and watching as well. Its now February and everything is earned.
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