Britton-Hecla will be looking to add a postseason victory when it hosts Wilmot in the Region 1B play-in game on Monday.
The Braves, 2-17, are the eighth seed and will host ninthseeded Wilmot (1-17) at 7 p.m. B-H defeated the Wolves earlier this season 62-55. The winner of that game will travel to top-seeded Aberdeen Christian (17-2) on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. matchup.
Other first round contests on Tuesday, assuming power point rankings do not change based on games this week, would match seventh-seeded Langford Area (4-15) at second- seeded Northwestern (14--5), third seed Warner (13-7) would host sixth seed Waverly-South Shore (9-10), and fourth seed Hitchcock-Tulare (10-8) would host fifth seed Leola-Frederick (11-7). Semifinal games will be played next week Friday.
Coach Troy Knecht’s club dropped its final regular season contest to Groton Area (14-4) on Friday 70-35.
“Getting another home game is a bonus, so we will try to make the most of it,” stressed Knecht. “Looking back on our body of work this year we’ve definitely had our moments when we looked like a really good team. Consistency has been hard to come by though, so I’m hoping the boys can put a solid four quarters together. They’ve worked hard and for them to get the reward of a well- played, well-executed game would be fitting.”
Groton Area 70 Britton-Hecla 35
Groton Area exploded for 43 first half points to grab a 23-point advantage and built on that margin in the second half.
The Braves started well. Ashton Mills hit a fielder and Gage Storley canned a threepointer to put B-H up 5-2 less than two minutes into the contest, but that lead was shortlived. Groton Area went on a 20-2 run and led 22-9 at the quarter break.
Ty Fagerland hit a bucket and Mills added another fielder to open the second stanza and cut the margin to 22-13, but the Tigers responded with a 10-1 streak on the way to their big halftime lead.
“I thought we came out ready and competed,” said Knecht. “Competing has really been our focus lately as it’s something we can control. Groton pressures full court and has lots of athletes who can come in to keep it on all game. We had a stretch in the middle of the first quarter where we turned it over several times in a row and that really was the difference in the game. Groton has a heck of a program and they really set the bar locally for the rest of us. What they have is where we want to be some day.”
BoDell Davidson led Britton-Hecla scorers with seven points.
GROTONAREA: Lane Tietz 3 0-0 8, Cole Simon 8 1-1 21, Jacob Zak 5 3-4 13, Tate Larson 3 1-1 7, Ryder Johnson 1 0-0 2, Teylor Diegel 2 1-2 6, Logan Ringgenberg 3 0-0 6, Keegan Tracy 1 00 3, Gage Sippel 1 0-0 2, Holden Sippel 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 6-8 70.
BRITTON-HECLA: Gage Storley 1 0-0 3, BoDell Davidson 2 2-2 7, Dawson Treeby 0 2-2 2, Jaxon Zuehlke 1 1-2 3, Ashton Mills 2 0-0 4, Ty Fagerland 2 0-0 4, Landon Carlson 2 0-0 4, Wyatt Tosse 1 0-0 2, Will Schuller 0 1-2 1, Daniel Person 0 5-6 5. Totals 11 11-14 35.
GA (14-4) 22 43 57 70 BH (2-17) 9 20 26 35 3-point goals - Tietz 2, Simon 4, Diegel, Tracy; Storley, Davidson. Total fouls - GA 14; BH 8.
Britton-Hecla’s Ashton Mills rose up for a shot against a defender in recent basketball action. The Braves will host Wilmot for a Region 1B play-in game on Monday.
