Area teams struggle against bad weather

RAPID CITY—Winter has left a big imprint on the start of the basketball season, postponements creating a revamped schedule, leaving many teams unsure of where and when they will play. Sturgis visiting Douglas was a case in point, where Douglas had already had two big battles against Rapid City Christian and Rapid City Central, but Sturgis had yet to play their first game.

“We’ve been practicing 22 practices and we finally got a game,” Sturgis Head Coach Derris Buus said, “and you could definitely tell in the first half, we just didn’t shoot very well. It took us awhile to figure out we needed to pressure a little bit more, we needn’t to push them out a little bit, and we finally did.”

Sturgis lost the first half but dominated the second half to defeat Douglas, 53-41.

“Our point guard (Tyan Buus) did a good job of pushing the ball,” Buus said. “He just does a lot of things for us. He’s one pf our better shooters, better passers. Once we got on that run, our defense picked up and we kind of shut them down there.”

Perhaps the biggest contribution Tyan Buus had to the Scooper win was his defense on Douglas three-point shooter Jesse Hand, who hardly got a touch in the second half, let alone get off a shot.

Sturgis had taken a five-point lead early in the third quarter, and as Douglas Head Coach Travis Miller paced the sidelines it looked like he was ready to call a time out and get his team back on track, but Tyan Buus brought the ball up court one more time, found open floor just inside the three-point line and swished a picture-perfect pull-up jumper to extend the lead to seven. From that point on, the Scoopers never looked back, and the Patriots struggled.

Rapid City Stevens was finally at home after three tough losses on the road and hoping to pick up their first win against age old rival Douglas. The Patriots have struggled on the road versus Stevens over the years, but this year looked to be different, as they had beaten RC Central, 49-46, and Stevens had lost to Central, 42-40. After a first quarter, which ended 9-4 in favor of Stevens, and both teams struggled to find their game, came a similar second quarter, full of turnovers and miscues, and the half ended with Stevens on top, 28-17. But that first half advantage would prove to be the difference, as Douglas scored 31 points in the second half, and Stevens, 32. In the end, the Raiders prevailed, 60-49.

Leading scorer in the game was Raider sophomore Dayler Segrist, with 15 points. Segrist was pumped up over his team’s first win: “It’s exhilarating, especially at home, that’s a really good feeling to win that (game).”

Segrist gave credit to others for the win, though: “Point guard, Hayden (Gebhart) especially, he did a really good job of getting the ball up. We did a really good job of defensive rebounding, did a good job boxing out in the second half.”

Steven’s Nash Sobczak led all rebounders with seven, and he had no turnovers, as excessive turnovers kept the raiders from putting the patriots away early on.

Stevens Head Coach Chris Stoebner: “They don’t know how to put teams away. They’re so inexperienced and haven’t been through this grind. I’m proud of ‘em. We went on that Aberdeen/Pierre road trip. That’s a tough one. Go to (RC) Central your third game of the year, that’s a tough one, obviously. Finally, to get home, and see us play with a little confidence. We were averaging 38 points a game, and so for us to get to, whatever we had, 60, we’re going to win a lot of ball games when we get to 60. So that was good to see. I still would like to see us knock down some more threes and take care of the basketball. We can’t turn the ball over 23 times.”

The Patriots hit twice as many threes as the Raiders, but they took 21 shots, where the Raiders took only nine. Both teams struggled with shooting, the Raiders shooting 33 percent and the Patriots, 32 percent. Senior Jesse Hand led his team in scoring, with 12 points, but the three-point specialist will have to step up his long-range shooting if the Patriots are going to rebound from back-to-back losses to Sturgis and Stevens. The Lakota Hand clan are developing a nice legacy at Douglas (Sam and Dan Hand played some excellent ball for Douglas a couple years back) and 6-3 Jesse has a smooth shooting touch, especially with the pressure on and hands in his face.

OTHER GAMES

Rapid City Christian has not seen any action since their win at LNI. They attempted a game against Alliance on Tuesday, but bad weather would not allow the Nebraska team to drive north. At this point, the Comets look to be as good as any basketball team in West River, but that won’t be known for certain until they square off with always tough St Thomas More on January 23. STM is now 6-0, and crushed Belle Fourche in their last game, 63-26. They visit Douglas on Thursday night.

GIRLS GAMES

January 2

Lyman 34, Sully Buttes 45

Belle Fourche 37, St Thomas More 51

January 3

Philip 23, Sully Buttes 53

Timber Lake 60, Faith 54

Cheyenne-Eagle Butte 44, McLaughlin 53

Spearfish 48, RC Stevens 53

Red Cloud 40, Rock Hills 32

 

BOYS GAMES

January 2

Harrisburg 75, Mitchell 57

Tea Area 52, vermillion 22

Lyman 56, Sully Buttes 47

Hot Springs 65, Chadron 60

Mobridge Pollock 60, Potter County 36

January 3

Newell 43, Wall 59

Sturgis 57, Custer 53

(Contact James Giago Davies at skindiesel@msn.com)