VOLGA – Sioux Valley boys' basketball defeated Chester Area 65-20 on Jan. 9 in the first round of the Big East Conference Tournament. Tuesday night was almost identical as the Cossacks beat the Flyers 75-24 at home.
Chester had a 3-2 lead one minute into the game, but it didn’t last long as Sioux Valley went on a 25-2 run the rest of the first quarter. The second quarter was much of the same and the Cossacks took a 41-11 lead into halftime. Sioux Valley kept their foot on the pedal in the second half and outscored Chester 34-13 and improved to 10-0 overall and 3-0 in the BEC.
The Cossacks held the Fliers to 26.6% shooting from the field and Chester was 0-10 from three. Sioux Valley also forced 21 turnovers. It was the fourth time this season that the Cossacks have held an opponent to 35 points or less. Sioux Valley head coach Bill Vincent credited his team’s defensive performance to emphasizing defense in practice.
“We’ve talked about [defense] a lot,” Vincent said. “… We fed off of the last game we played against [Chester]. What didn’t we do well and lets do those things better.”
Sioux Valley was led by Lane VanderWal 14 points, six assists and five rebounds. Ryan Schuster had 10 points and seven rebounds. Parker Puetz had 11 points and five rebounds. Kelton Vincent had 13 points and Max Nielson and Oliver Vincent each had seven points.
Up next, the Cossacks will travel to Mitchell to take on St. Thomas More in the Hanson Classic at the Corn Palace. The Cavaliers are also undefeated and Vincent said it will be a good test for his team and it will be good measuring stick.
“I think they’re looking at [this game] the same way. As you go through both teams schedules, neither team has been challenged into the fourth quarter yet. So both teams are looking forward to that and the environment that the Corn Palace can create. I think both teams are excited about that and should be. I know our guys are looking forward for the rest of the week to prepare for that game and get themselves ready,” Vincent said.
Tipoff between the Cossacks and Cavaliers is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Vincent said if his team wants to come out of the Corn Palace with a win they need to play good defense and rebound.
“We know that we’re going to playing a team that when you look in the mirror looks a lot like yourself. Two teams that are going to pride themselves in defense and pressure defense. Both teams are going to have their offense things they can go to as well. We know we’re going to have to disciplined defensively and rebound a little bit better than we have this year,” Vincent said.
SIOUX VALLEY 75, CHESTER AREA 24
Chester Area (1-11, 0-5 BEC)
Stratton Eppard 5-14 2-5 12, Brock Wages 4-16 0-1 8, Ryan Benson 1-7 0-0 2, Jovi Wolf 1-1 0-0 2, Ashton Oliver 0-1 0-0 0, Preston Dorrow 0-1 0-0 0, Wyatt Hansen 0-2 0-0 0, Brayden Vogel 0-0 0-0 0, Owen Mersch 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan Gerry 0-0 0-0 0, Max McGreevy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-42 2-6 24.
Sioux Valley (10-0, 3-0 BEC)
Lane VanderWal 6-9 0-1 14, Kelton Vincent 4-11 2-3 13, Parker Puetz 4-10 0-0 11, Ryan Schuster 3-11 4-4 10, Max Nielson 3-4 0-0 7, Oliver 3-10 0-0 7, Hayden Ruesink 2-5 1-1 6, Jaxton Schiller 2-4 0-0 4, Colby Gatzke 1-1 0-0 3, Patrick Carey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-66 7-9 75.
Chester Area 5 6 7 6 – 24
Sioux Valley 27 14 12 22 – 75
3-point field goals – CA 0-10 (Eppard 0-1, Oliver 0-1, Wages 0-3, Benson 0-5), SV 12-31 (Ruesink 1-1, Gatzke 1-1, VanderWal 2-4, Nielson 1-2, K. Vincent 3-7, Puetz 3-8, O. Vincent 1-5, Schiller 0-1). Rebounds – CA 20 (Wages 7), SV 40 (Schuster 7). Assists – CA 11 (Benson 3), SV 28 (VanderWal 6). Steals – CA 2 (Eppard, Wages), SV 14 (Nielson 3). Blocks – CA 0, SV 1 (O. Vincent). Turnovers – CA 21, SV 4. Total fouls – CA 9, SV 11. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
