YANKTON – The third-ranked Bobcats took care of business on the road, completing a regular-season sweep of the Bucks with a 59-42 Eastern South Dakota Conference boys’ basketball victory Thursday night at the Summit Center.
Brookings (14-2, 12-2) moved into a first-place tie with idle Brandon Valley (13-3, 11-1) atop the league standings. Yankton dropped to 7-9 (6-6).
Brennan Carlson and Josh Mohs got things going with a pair of early 3-pointers. Carlson added a couple buckets later in the period, before Drew Cole and Mohs both buried a trey to make it 16-7 heading to the second.
Layups by Carlson and Devin Coughlin in the second pushed the margin to 20-7, prompting a Yankton timeout.
The Bucks cut the deficit to six points – 22-16 – on a Casey Krejci 3, but Coughlin answered with a long ball of his own to make it 25-16 with 2:20 remaining before the half.
Later, Mohs’ traditional three-point play gave the Bobcats a 29-19 cushion heading to the break.
Jameson Meyer opened the second-half scoring with a layup.
Carter Holm scored seven points in the third quarter, Coughlin added a three-point play and Sam Wilber canned a late jumper as Brookings opened up a 43-29 advantage.
Yankton got as close as eight points in the final frame after Matthew Mors connected from deep to pull the Bucks within 49-41 with 4:24 to go.
Coughlin hit 1-of-2 free throws with 3:30 left and Holm added a pair of foul shots with 3:10 showing on the clock to extend the margin to 52-41.
Cole all but sealed the victory with a 3 from the top of the key with 2:16 left. Carlson and Cole scored in the paint down the stretch to provide for the final margin.
“There were about four or five possessions in a row where we ran the (shot) clock all the way down to 10 and then executed a set,” said BHS coach Travis Engebretson. “That’s just team basketball right there.”
Carlson paced a balanced Bobcat attack with 13 points, 10 of which came in the first 16 minutes.
Carter Holm scored all 12 of his points in the second half. Coughlin added 11 points and Mohs nine, with all of them coming in the opening half.
Cole dropped in eight points after the break. Wilber chipped in with four points and Meyer two.
Brookings held a commanding 40-21 advantage on the glass, with Coughlin corralling nine rebounds. Mohs, who came up with a pair of steals, and Carlson dished out five assists apiece.
The Bobcats shot 48.9 percent (22-of-45) from the field while limiting the Bucks to 32.7 percent (16-of-49).
Yankton’s Matthew Mors, a 6-foot-6 eighth-grader, scored 20 points – just shy of his season average – after going 7-of-20 from the floor.
Brookings opens a three-game homestand playing host to Sioux Falls Roosevelt tonight in the back end of a doubleheader at approximately 8 p.m.
Yankton heads to Pierre on Saturday.
Notes: The Bobcats beat the Bucks 65-50 in the first meeting Dec. 13 in Brookings.
