VOLGA Castlewood pulled away from Sioux Valley in the fourth quarter on Tuesday night and the No. 2 ranked Warriors beat the Cossacks 61-42 on Tuesday night at the Cossack Center.
The Warriors led 38-36 heading into the fourth. Castlewood then scored the first six points of the final quarter and that caused a timeout from Sioux Valley. The Cossacks then hit a three, but the Warriors answered that with a 17-3 run in the final 5:26 of the game.
I thought in the fourth quarter the foul trouble and the energy we put into keeping it close that long caught up to us, said Sioux Valley head coach Bill Vincent. I thought we also stuck with our full court defense a possession too long before changing it up and settling in.
The Cossacks were right there in the first three quarters. The two teams traded baskets in the first quarter and Castlewood held a 14-10 advantage at the end of the quarter. Castlewood then went up 22-12, but the Cossacks went on a 9-1 run in the final three minutes of the half and trailed 23-21 heading into halftime.
The Warriors led 30-24 with 4:31 to play in the third. Then three 3-pointers between Brock Christopherson and Damian Danzeisen propelled Sioux Valley to tie things up at 33-33 with 1:55 left in the quarter. The Cossacks were then down 38-33 with 47 seconds left but another Christopherson three cut the lead to two heading into the fourth.
Vincent said the biggest difference between the first three quarters and the final quarter was the way his team rebounded.
We were really proud of our guys. I thought the thing that stood out in the first half was that rebounds were tied at 15 at halftime and we knew that was going to be a chore, Vincent said.
The Warriors shot 43.4% from the field and were 2-of-8 from three. Center Bryon Laue led the Warriors with 25 points and 13 rebounds. Brody Bass had 14 points and six rebounds. Vincent said those two made things tough for the Cossacks on both sides of the ball.
Eventually they took over and part of that was the foul trouble with our bigs and having just one of them on the floor at a time. They kind of got control of the glass in the second half and got some second and third opportunities. [Laue], whos that big, and then their coach does such a good job using him. It really allows them to just always have a rim protector and then they can extend out into the passing lanes and it took us awhile to get used to that. They do a nice job of using Laues size to make their other players better, Vincent said.
Sioux Valley shot 30.2% from the field and was 12-of-32 from three. It was senior night for the Cossacksand they honored three players in Brock Christopherson, Maverick Nelson and Levi Loban. Christopherson had a career-high 20 points. Nelson had seven points and six rebounds. Loban had six points and was 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.
Vincent said each senior has made an impact on the Sioux Valley program.
[Christopherson] had a career night scoring and just kind of controlled the game. He just does so well with his defensive ball pressure. Hes a competitor and we cant thank him enough for his competitiveness that leads our team and the heart that he plays with. Maverick Nelson is up there with some of our all time greats. Hes up and over 900 career points. Hes started on the teams in the past that were back-to-back State Consolation Champions and the year before that, so he was around all that winning. Levi Loban just brings so much passion and energy to the team. Hes able to give up individual accolades for the good of the team, but is always engaged and ready to come in and hes our spark off of the bench, Vincent said.
Castlewood won the rebound battle 32-21. The Cossacks had 17 turnovers and the Warriors had 10. Sioux Valley was 4-of-7 at the free throw line and Castlewood was 13-of-22.
Sioux Valley is now 10-9 on the season and will end the regular season on Thursday at Garretson. Vincent said he thinks his team is playing its best basketball as it heads toward the postseason.
We really feel like were playing our best basketball and we still have time to grow. We have our final regular season game and then a week off to tweak things and get that much better before postseason starts. We have a team thats been so close so many times this year against the best teams in the state, so they know and believe that theyre capable of beating anyone thats out there, Vincent said.
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