The Flandreau boys’ basketball team won the Big East Conference Tournament on Saturday night. The Fliers topped Sioux Valley 70-40 in the title game.
Garretson beat Chester Area 42-38 in the third place game. McCook Central/Montrose topped Parker 47-46 in the fifth place game and Beresford beat Baltic 60-32 in the seventh place game.
Saturday
Championship
• Flandreau 70, Sioux Valley 40
SALEM – The Fliers used a big second and third quarter to pull away from the Cossacks and win the title.
Flandreau led 12-11 after the first quarter, but outscored Sioux Valley 20-9 in the second to take a 32-20 lead into the locker room. The Fliers blew the game open in the third by outscoring the Cossacks 27-10. They led 59-30 going into the fourth and were able to coast the rest of the way.
Flandreau head coach Brendan Sheppard said it wax a big win for his team, but at the end of the day it’s still the regular season.
“We were excited. We played well, hit some shots. I think we kind of caught Sioux Valley on maybe an off night for them. We’re excited and we’ll take the win, but it’s just a regular season game still,” he said.
Flandreau shot 61.4% from the field and was 9-16 from three. Sheppard said
“We attack the basket, so we are a higher shooting percentage team. We don’t really rely on the 3-point shot a ton for our offense. But yeah we were getting to the paint. We had some good back cuts and some easier shots at the rim, so that helped us,” Brendan Sheppard said.
Tash Lunday led the way for the Fliers with 17 points and seven rebounds. Flandreau had four other plays score in double figures.
Chase LeBrun had 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Liam Streitz, Alex Anderson and Luke Sheppard each had 10 points.
Brendan Sheppard said he liked the balance from his team on Saturday night.
“[Saturday night] we were more balanced. [Lunday] maybe didn’t go off as [much] as he can. Some other guys hit some shots. Maybe Sioux Valley was a little more focused on him. The big change for us this year, or maybe the past two years, is that we’re a much better 3-point shooting team than we have been. So that adds another level for us with scoring,” Brendan Sheppard said.
Sioux Valley shot 35% from the field and was 8-25 from three. Sioux Valley head coach Bill Vincent said his team just couldn’t get it going offensively.
“… We seemed flat and out of rhythm. It really seemed like Flandreau did a good job of controlling the paint both offensively and defensively. That slowed us down. We didn’t get a lot of good looks. Everything was challenging and tough hard looks at the rim,” he said.
Oliver Vincent led Sioux Valley with 13 points. Hayden Ruesink and Dylen Milton each had six points.
Flandreau won the rebound battle 28-24. The Fliers were 6-10 at the free throw line and the Cossacks were 4-10.
This was Flandreau’s seventh-straight win. The Fliers fell to Hamlin 60-56 in their opening game, but bounced back and have won every game since. Sheppard said his team was not happy with how they played against Hamlin and
“We’re good and we knew were going to be good. We said as long as we can stay healthy, we have a chance to be right there [at the end of the season]. We were obviously very disappointed with our opening loss to Hamlin. We thought we played pretty poorly, but we didn’t sulk on it and turned things around and have been rolling pretty good.
Sioux Valley dropped to 5-2 on the season. The Cossacks will take on Hamlin in the Throwback Classic at the Sanford Pentagon on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Bill Vincent said his team needs to work on getting better and get over the loss.
“We want to continue to improve each night out and through our practices. We need to understand that [Flandreau] is another really good team that’s as good as anyone in Class A basketball. We need to get ourselves prepared for the next one. We play Tuesday at the Pentagon in the Throwback Classic against Hamlin, which will be on Midco Sports Plus. [Hamlin] is a team and that’s Flandreau’s only loss. So you turnaround right way again in the [Lake Central Conference] and have another battle,” Bill Vincent said.
Flandreau plays at Madison on Thursday. Tip off is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.
FLANDREAU 70, SIOUX VALLEY 40
Flandreau (7-1)
Tash Lunday 7-14 3-5 17, Chase LeBrun 5-6 1-2 14, Luke Sheppard 4-6 0-0- 10, Liam Streitz 4-6 0-1 10, Alex Anderson 4-7 0-0 10, Maverick LeBrun 1-1 0-0 2, Michah Otto 1-1 0-0 2, Paul Parsley 1-2 0-0 2, Matthew Gassman 0-1 0-0 2. Totals 27-44 6-10 70.
Sioux Valley (5-2)
Oliver Vincent 5-13 0-0 13, Hatden Ruesink 1-6 3-4 6, Dylen Milton 2-4 0-0 6, Damian Danzeisen 2-5 0-1 5, Alec Squires 2-3 0-1 5, Parker Puetz 1-5 0-0 3, Maverick Nelson 1-1 0-0 2, Carson Christopherson 0-1 1-4 1, Connor Gross 0-1 0-0 0, Layson Lucas 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 14-40 4-10 40.
Flandreau 12 20 27 11 – 70
Sioux Valley 11 9 10 10 – 40
FG% – F 61.4%, SV 35%. 3-point field goals – F 9-16 (C. LeBrun 3-4, Sheppard 2-3, Streitz 2-3, Anderson 2-5, Lunday 0-1), SV 8-25 (Milton 2-4, Ruesink 1-2, Vincent 3-8, Danzeisen 1-4, Pietz 1-5, Gross 0-1, Lucas 0-1). Rebounds – F 28 (Lunday 7), SV 24 (Squires, Danzeisen 4). Assists – F 3 (Anderson 2), SV 0. Steals – F 5 (Lunday, Sheppard 2), SV 5 (Squires 2). Blocks – F 4 (C. LeBrun 3), SV 2 (Squires 2). Turnovers – F 7, SV 8. Total fouls – F 10, SV 14. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
Friday
Semifinals
• Sioux Valley 62, Chester Area 39
VOLGA – The Cossacks started the game on a 21-0 run and didn’t look back as they advanced to the championship.
Sioux Valley led 21-2 after the first quarter. Bill Vincent said his team wanted to be ready to go right from the opening whistle.
“We were talking [before the game] about being the readier team and the ball was going [in] early and often for us. That was good and then it allowed us to get everyone involved, which is important when you’re playing three games in three days,” he said.
The Cossacks led 31-17 at halftime. Chester hung around and cut the lead to 10, but Sioux Valley went back up 46-33 going into the fourth. The Cossacks then ran away with the win.
“Human nature [kicked in],” Bill Vincent said. “To start to work harder and to fight yourself back into the game. Especially when you have a team as senior laden as Chester is, eventually their going to get things going. Then we were jockeying things around. Trying to work ourselves through certain things. But I thought we did a nice job of handling adversity in the second and third quarter, and then in the fourth quarter we kind of got things rolling again.”
Sioux Valley shot 36.7% from the field and was 9-28 from the field. The Cossacks were 9-12 from the free throw line.
Oliver Vincent led the Cossacks with 24 points and six rebounds. Alec Squires had a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Hayden Ruesink had nine points and 12 rebounds. Dylen Milton had nine points off the bench.
Bill Vincent said it’s nice to see the development of Milton.
“[Milton] has had a steady season for us. Him and Carson Christopherson really give you a luxury when you go to them because you’re not going to fall off at all and in many instances your team is going to get better when those fresh legs come into the game and you got to see that tonight,” he said.
The Cossacks held the Flyers to 27.8% shooting from the field and Chester was 9-31 from three. Chester did not attempt free throw.
Ashton Oliver led the Flyers with 12 points. Jovi Wolf had 11 points. Stratton Eppard had seven points and Brock Wages had six.
Sioux Valley won the rebound battle 44-30. The Flyers had 15 turnovers and the Cossacks had 13.
SIOUX VALLEY 62, CHESTER AREA 39
Chester (4-5)
Ashton Olivier 4-12 0-0 12, Jovi Wolf 4-12 0-0 11, Stratton Eppard 3-11 0-0 7, Brock Wages 3-7 0-0 6, Layke Wold 1-3 0-0 3, Brayden Vogel 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Benson 0-5 0-0 0, Clay Hansen 0-1 0-0 0, Max McGreevy 0-1 0-0 0, Garret Hansen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-54 0-0 39.
Sioux Valley (5-1)
Oliver Vincent 7-16 5-5 24, Alec Squires 6-8 1-4 13, Hayden Ruesink 4-10 1-1 9, Dylen Milton 3-6 0-0 9, Damian Danzeisen 1-7 2-2 4, Parker Puetz 1-5 0-0 3, Connor Gross 0-2 0-0 0, Layson Lucas 0-5 0-0 0, Jace Christensen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-60 9-12 62.
Chester 2 15 16 6 – 39
Sioux Valley 21 10 15 16 – 62
FG%: Chester .278, Sioux Valley .367. 3-point field goals – C 9-31 (Vogel 0-1, Benson 0-4, Wolf 3-9, Wold 1-3, Eppard 1-1, Olivier 4-12, Hansen 0-1), SV 9-28 (Danzeisen 0-4, Puetz 1-4, Milton 3-5, Vincent 5-10, Ruesink 0-2, Lucas 0-3). Rebounds – C 30 (Benson 6), SV 44 (Squires 14). Assists – C 11 (Eppard 5), SV 13 (Vincent 3, Ruesink 3, Squires 3). Steals – C 12 (Wages 2), SV 14 (Vincent, Ruesink 2). Blocks – C 1 (Wolf 1), SV 2 (Ruesink 1, Squires 1). Turnovers – C 15, SV 13. Total fouls – C 12, SV 7. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
• Flandreau 55, Garretson 34
GARRETSON – The Fliers dominated in the second half to secure their spot in the championship.
Flandreau led 12-9 at the end of the first quarter and 24-20 at halftime. The Fliers then outscored the Blue Dragons 17-10 in the third quarter and 14-4 in the fourth to come away with the win.
Flandreau shot 39% from the field and was 19-32. The Fliers were 9-12 at the free throw line.
Lunday had 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Fliers. Anderson 12 points. Chase LeBrun and Streitz each had seven points. LeBrun had nine rebounds.
Stats for Garretson were unavailable.
