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Mar. 18—PRESHO, S.D. — In the best year-to-year turnaround story of March in South Dakota boys basketball, the Lyman Raiders are back in the Class B state boys basketball tournament.
The turnaround may be hard to fathom. Last season, the Raiders were inexperienced, leaning on a core of underclassmen, and they had a lot to learn. They finished with a 5-16 record, but those struggles set the stage for what has been a miraculous reversal this season.
Lyman became the most surprising state qualifier from this season, going 17-6 with notable victories over Class A squad Winner, fellow Class B state qualifier Wall, Stanley County and most recently over Gregory in the SoDak 16, a team that bested the Raiders during the regular season. The 12-win turnaround is the best of any boys team in the state tournaments this weekend.
Head coach Cooper Garnos said the learning experience from the five-win campaign and the work the team put in during the offseason has paid off, transforming Lyman from a struggling team to one of the best in only a single season.
"With the work they put in the offseason now coming into this year, it came together as the season went along," Garnos said. "We did lose six times, but most of those games were close. Most of those games, we were right in it right to the finish. And what I always found after each loss, we bounced back. If I could put an adjective up above this team, I would say resilience."
The Raiders started the season 5-1 before losing three of their next five games, including to Gregory. But since that stretch in January, Lyman rebounded in a big way, winning 10 of its last 12 leading up to state.
Garnos said the stretch of success has come as a result of the team growing closer together. They've built greater trust, developed better chemistry and even when they did lose, it ended up providing a greater benefit than a win might have.
"[The team was] buying into what we're trying to do, and I think the guys did more and more of that with the team, with the coaches as the season progressed," Garnos said. "Even though we got beat a couple times in our last 10 games, they were games that I think we learned from. Even if we got beat, that's okay, but what are we going to learn from it? What are we going to learn the next day? What are we going to get better at? And I think they did a really good job of grasping that."
The Raiders are still very young, primarily relying on the same core of players from a year ago.
Four of their five leading scorers are underclassmen, led by sophomore guard MJ Diehm. He leads the team in points per game (15.4), assists (4.8) and total steals (61). Sophomore Dawsen Volmer adds 12.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists. Aksel Ehlers, the Raiders' lone senior, averages 11.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Freshman Cole Kieffer leads the team in rebounds (6.5) and scores 7.9 points per game.
But the individuals aren't how Lyman has gotten this far. It's all been about the team and putting everyone in a position to contribute the best they can, said Garnos, the longtime Raider coach in his 16th total season on the bench.
"The big picture is all about the team, and then it's defining roles within how a team looks," Garnos said. "It's a continued learning process, and we continue to always talk about those things. What's in the best interest of the team? But under that, you do have fine individual performances, but how do you convince everybody that these are your roles and this is what matters at the end of the day."
Eighth-seeded Lyman will have no easy tests at state, beginning with top-seeded Castlewood in the quarterfinals. With a top-five scoring defense and a 21-2 record, the Warriors have taken down some of the best teams in the state including fellow state qualifier Dell Rapids St. Mary and Class A qualifier West Central.
Garnos said facing one of the more experienced teams in the field will take everything the Raiders have got, but he also said they're ready to face the rigors that the state tournament brings.
"It will take a monumental effort on our end, but on the flip side of that is we couldn't be more excited to have this opportunity," Garnos said. "There are 72 other teams out there that are wishing they have this opportunity. ... We're going to give them everything we've got and we're going to turn over every rock and get as prepared as we can for this."
Continue reading...
The turnaround may be hard to fathom. Last season, the Raiders were inexperienced, leaning on a core of underclassmen, and they had a lot to learn. They finished with a 5-16 record, but those struggles set the stage for what has been a miraculous reversal this season.
Lyman became the most surprising state qualifier from this season, going 17-6 with notable victories over Class A squad Winner, fellow Class B state qualifier Wall, Stanley County and most recently over Gregory in the SoDak 16, a team that bested the Raiders during the regular season. The 12-win turnaround is the best of any boys team in the state tournaments this weekend.
Head coach Cooper Garnos said the learning experience from the five-win campaign and the work the team put in during the offseason has paid off, transforming Lyman from a struggling team to one of the best in only a single season.
"With the work they put in the offseason now coming into this year, it came together as the season went along," Garnos said. "We did lose six times, but most of those games were close. Most of those games, we were right in it right to the finish. And what I always found after each loss, we bounced back. If I could put an adjective up above this team, I would say resilience."
The Raiders started the season 5-1 before losing three of their next five games, including to Gregory. But since that stretch in January, Lyman rebounded in a big way, winning 10 of its last 12 leading up to state.
Garnos said the stretch of success has come as a result of the team growing closer together. They've built greater trust, developed better chemistry and even when they did lose, it ended up providing a greater benefit than a win might have.
"[The team was] buying into what we're trying to do, and I think the guys did more and more of that with the team, with the coaches as the season progressed," Garnos said. "Even though we got beat a couple times in our last 10 games, they were games that I think we learned from. Even if we got beat, that's okay, but what are we going to learn from it? What are we going to learn the next day? What are we going to get better at? And I think they did a really good job of grasping that."
The Raiders are still very young, primarily relying on the same core of players from a year ago.
Four of their five leading scorers are underclassmen, led by sophomore guard MJ Diehm. He leads the team in points per game (15.4), assists (4.8) and total steals (61). Sophomore Dawsen Volmer adds 12.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists. Aksel Ehlers, the Raiders' lone senior, averages 11.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Freshman Cole Kieffer leads the team in rebounds (6.5) and scores 7.9 points per game.
But the individuals aren't how Lyman has gotten this far. It's all been about the team and putting everyone in a position to contribute the best they can, said Garnos, the longtime Raider coach in his 16th total season on the bench.
"The big picture is all about the team, and then it's defining roles within how a team looks," Garnos said. "It's a continued learning process, and we continue to always talk about those things. What's in the best interest of the team? But under that, you do have fine individual performances, but how do you convince everybody that these are your roles and this is what matters at the end of the day."
Eighth-seeded Lyman will have no easy tests at state, beginning with top-seeded Castlewood in the quarterfinals. With a top-five scoring defense and a 21-2 record, the Warriors have taken down some of the best teams in the state including fellow state qualifier Dell Rapids St. Mary and Class A qualifier West Central.
Garnos said facing one of the more experienced teams in the field will take everything the Raiders have got, but he also said they're ready to face the rigors that the state tournament brings.
"It will take a monumental effort on our end, but on the flip side of that is we couldn't be more excited to have this opportunity," Garnos said. "There are 72 other teams out there that are wishing they have this opportunity. ... We're going to give them everything we've got and we're going to turn over every rock and get as prepared as we can for this."
Continue reading...
