Andrew Holtan | The Brookings Register
BROOKINGS — Pierre outscored Brookings 18-12 in the final quarter on Tuesday night and beat the Bobcats 56-47 at Bob Jostad Gymnasium.
The Bobcats trailed 38-35 going into the fourth and Noah Lease hit a 3-pointer on their first possession of the quarter to tie things up. Pierre’s Jarren Deal then gave the Governors the lead with a basket and Austin Corde made two free throws to make it 42-38 with 6:37 to go. Corde would then convert on an and-one before Jones Huntimer made a three for the Bobcats to make it 45-41 with 4:51 to play.
Bergan Tetzlaff made one of two free throws to cut the lead to three but then Deal made a three and Corde scored four-straight points to make it 52-42 with 53 seconds left and that put the game out of reach. Corde had 28 points to lead the the Governors
Brookings head coach Joe Frederiksen said he thought his team’s defense wasn’t good enough in the final quarter.
“I just don’t think our defense was in the right spot at times,” Frederiksen said. “We gave up some easy looks right around the rim, and that’s what hurt us. We’re normally pretty darn good on the defensive end, and tonight we just weren’t. So that’s unfortunate for us.”
Brookings was down 15-10 after the first quarter. Pierre then scored the first four points of the second quarter. However, the Bobcats would then go on an 8-0 run to make it 19-18 with 3:20 to go in the first half. Bergan Tetzlaff then caught an inbounds pass with 0.7 seconds left and put up a lay up that went in at the buzzer to make it 26-26 heading into halftime.
Frederiksen said Brookings’ defense shined in the latter part of the second quarter.
“I think we played a defensive quarter there. We forced some tough shots, and then we were able to make some shots too. So I just think we picked it up a little bit in the second quarter. It’s just unfortunate we didn’t finish that way,” Frederiksen said.
The two teams went back-and-forth in the third. Jase Bauer and Tetzlaff each scored baskets in the first minute and a half of the quarter. Pierre then scored five straight to regain the lead and the Bobcats and Governors traded baskets the rest of the quarter until Pierre had a three-point lead going into the fourth.
Brookings shot 34% from the field and was 9-of-24 from three. Frederiksen said he liked the way his team played on offense on Tuesday night.
“We made some adjustments there against their zone. Their zone is kind of one of those that extends, and we were having some trouble with that. But I think we were able to find the ball and get the ball inside a little bit more. And then we were able to kick some balls out, and we knocked some shots down in the second half,” Frederiksen said.
The Bobcats were led by Tetzlaff who had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Drew Johnson had 11 points and Lease had 10 points. Huntimer had nine points.
Pierre shot 41.5% from the field and was 3-for-12 from three. Deal had 16 points and Cooper Terwilliger had 14 rebounds.
Each team had 10 turnovers. Brookings had a 33-28 advantage in rebounds. The Governors were 19-of-20 at the free throw line and the ‘Cats were 4-of-12.
Coaches and players for both teams were wearing shirts that said “Hoop For Huntimers” on Tuesday night. It was in support of Brookings assistant coach Jarrod Huntimer, whose wife Jody is fighting cancer. Frederiksen said his team wanted to dedicate Tuesday’s game to Jody and it was nice of everyone to support the Huntimer family.
“Yeah, just a big night, and we came out, and we played the best we could. Unfortunately, we just came up a little short on that end for her. But it was great to see everyone come out and help with that,” Fredriksen said.
The Bobcats dropped to 1-15 on the season. Going into Tuesday night Brookings was right behind the Governors in the Class AA standings, with Pierre in 16th and Brookings in 17th. Frederiksen said Tuesday’s loss stings more than the others because they were right there at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
“It was a battle. It was one of those where they were right in front of us in the [standings]. It’s one of those that we just needed to get. And so that one’s going to hurt down the stretch too for a little bit and we’ll see how the rest of the season plays out,” Frederiksen said.
Brookings plays at Aberdeen Central on Friday night and the Golden Eagles also only have one win on the season. Frederiksen said his team needs to play more of a complete game on Friday if they want to earn their second win of the season.
“We’re just going to have to play team basketball, on both sides of the floor. That’s going to be stressed in the next couple of days of practice, because we just got to do a better job of doing our job, taking care of our guys, and playing better defense. I think that’ll help us hopefully come away with a win,” Frederiksen said.
— Contact Andrew Holtan at [email protected].
Leave a Reply