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Mar. 20—RAPID CITY — For a half and then some, eighth-seeded Spearfish gave the top-seeded Sioux Falls Lincoln boys basketball team all it could handle.
The Patriots then brought the full freight of their No. 1 operation in the second half and buried the Spartans' upset hopes in a 55-33 victory in the Class AA boys basketball state quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon at the Summit Arena.
The win gives Lincoln 11 wins in a row and puts the Patriots at 21-1 ahead of their Class AA state semifinal tilt against No. 4 Mitchell at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 21.
As they have all season, the Patriots brought balanced offense to the table, with Sam DeGroot scoring 15 points, 13 points from Sam Ericsson on the strength of three 3-pointers and Brody Schafer tallied 11 points for Lincoln.
"It shows that guys are ready for the moment," Lincoln coach Luke Hannemann said of the team's balance. "This is a lot bigger moment than when you're at your own gym, so making sure we have guys that are balanced scorers for us is just huge."
Spearfish wasn't fazed by the Lincoln defense in the first half, scoring 12 of its 20 points in the paint and shooting 45% from the field, getting eight points from forward Cooper Gibbs inside. The Spartans led by as many as five points midway through the first half.
Lincoln held a 10-0 edge in bench points in the first half, driven nearly exclusively by Isaiah Teer's seven points. Teer, who averages 2.3 points per game for the season, was one of the leading players for Lincoln in a 15-4 run to end the second quarter over a 4 1/2-minute span.
In the opening moments of the second half, Dylon Doren scored to get Spearfish within two points. From there, Spearfish went cold — going without a field goal for 10 minutes and 10 seconds — and Lincoln turned it on with 19 points in a row.
DeGroot, Schafer and Ericsson each had 3-pointers for the Patriots in that run, which spanned the quarter break and eventually put Lincoln up by 21 points and as many as 25 points before the final horn.
"Guys just locked in a little harder on defense," Hannemann said of his team. "They saw the pressure that Spearfish was coming with and they decided that they needed to bring the level of play up. ... We were doing a good job of keeping them in front of them."
Spearfish (14-8), which didn't have a win against the state tournament field entering Thursday, was led by Gibbs' eight points and eight rebounds. Doren had seven points and 10 rebounds for the Spartans, who finished with 16 turnovers and will square off against Huron in the consolation round at 1 p.m. on Friday.
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The Patriots then brought the full freight of their No. 1 operation in the second half and buried the Spartans' upset hopes in a 55-33 victory in the Class AA boys basketball state quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon at the Summit Arena.
The win gives Lincoln 11 wins in a row and puts the Patriots at 21-1 ahead of their Class AA state semifinal tilt against No. 4 Mitchell at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 21.
As they have all season, the Patriots brought balanced offense to the table, with Sam DeGroot scoring 15 points, 13 points from Sam Ericsson on the strength of three 3-pointers and Brody Schafer tallied 11 points for Lincoln.
"It shows that guys are ready for the moment," Lincoln coach Luke Hannemann said of the team's balance. "This is a lot bigger moment than when you're at your own gym, so making sure we have guys that are balanced scorers for us is just huge."
Spearfish wasn't fazed by the Lincoln defense in the first half, scoring 12 of its 20 points in the paint and shooting 45% from the field, getting eight points from forward Cooper Gibbs inside. The Spartans led by as many as five points midway through the first half.
Lincoln held a 10-0 edge in bench points in the first half, driven nearly exclusively by Isaiah Teer's seven points. Teer, who averages 2.3 points per game for the season, was one of the leading players for Lincoln in a 15-4 run to end the second quarter over a 4 1/2-minute span.
In the opening moments of the second half, Dylon Doren scored to get Spearfish within two points. From there, Spearfish went cold — going without a field goal for 10 minutes and 10 seconds — and Lincoln turned it on with 19 points in a row.
DeGroot, Schafer and Ericsson each had 3-pointers for the Patriots in that run, which spanned the quarter break and eventually put Lincoln up by 21 points and as many as 25 points before the final horn.
"Guys just locked in a little harder on defense," Hannemann said of his team. "They saw the pressure that Spearfish was coming with and they decided that they needed to bring the level of play up. ... We were doing a good job of keeping them in front of them."
Spearfish (14-8), which didn't have a win against the state tournament field entering Thursday, was led by Gibbs' eight points and eight rebounds. Doren had seven points and 10 rebounds for the Spartans, who finished with 16 turnovers and will square off against Huron in the consolation round at 1 p.m. on Friday.
Continue reading...
