Britton-Hecla earned a hard-fought win in its annual battle with cross-county rival Langford Area 61-53 on Friday but dropped a 54-45 decision to Sisseton last week Tuesday.
Coach Troy Knecht’s squad took a 9-6 record into a home contest with Clark-Willow Lake last night Tuesday, plays Waubay-Summit at Summit on Thursday, hosts Waverly South Shore on Monday and Hamlin comes to town on Tuesday. All four games are doubleheaders with the girls’ squad.
Britton-Hecla 61
Langford Area 53
Britton-Hecla won a hard-fought cross-county battle against Langford Area after trailing by a point at the end of the opening period.
“This was a game that we knew would be competitive just based off of the history of this rivalry,” said Knecht. “It didn’t disappoint. Kassan Keough got off to a blistering start so we made an adjustment in the second quarter to slow him down. We chased him around with two defenders and our guys adapted to it really well on the go. It’s something I haven’t done in years.
“Overall, we dominated the paint with a lot of second chance points and we also won the rebounding battle. We were fairly efficient on offense averaging a point per possession. That’s a good number for us. We shot 46% for the game, which is nice to see, as well. That means we go to the rim and converted. We had a few stretches where I feel like we settled for threes but we didn’t take many unprotected shots.
“Give credit to Langford for shooting the ball well from the three-point line and competing with us the entire game. Hats off to them.”
“We played our hearts out against the Braves and I was really proud of the boys,” said LA coach Brian Schuring. “The game had great atmosphere and was fun to be a part of as a player and as a coach.”
Keough came out on fire in the first quarter, scoring 16 straight points and hitting four straight treys to give the Lions a 19-18 lead at the break. The Braves kept pace with some hot shooting of their own, including three treys, from five players. Graham Fosness led the way with seven points, and Chaz Vietor laced five.
Knecht’s adjustment paid dividends in the second period as the Lions went scoreless for the final 6:40 of the half. The Braves outscored LA 10-4 to take a 28-23 halftime lead.
That lead didn’t hold up for long as the Lions found the range from three-point land to open the third stanza. Jacob Samson and Keough both hit a pair of treys and Caleb Mertz hit another to put LA back on top 38-36 with 4:50 left in the period. But Chaz Vietor converted a conventional three-point play and hit a trey and the Braves went on a 12-3 run to take a 48-41 lead with a quarter to play.
It was the Lions turn for a run to open the fourth quarter. Mertz started with a three-point play and a trey, and Samson added his third three-pointer of the night to cap a 9-0 run and give LA a 50-48 advantage. Vietor answered with a follow shot and Daniel Person went coast-to-coast twice t put B-H up 54-50. Keough resonded with a three-point play to cut the margin to 54-53 with 2:35 remaining, but the Lions did not score again.
Person put the Lions away, hitting three free tosses and a trey down the stretch. The senior scored all 14 of his points in the final 11 minutes of the game.
Vietor and Person led a balanced Braves’ attack with 14 points each, Fosness had 12, and Jaxon Zuehlke 11. Fosness also pulled down 13 rebounds and Vietor had seven. Will Richter had six assists.
Keough finished with 28 for the Lions and added five assists and three steals. Mertz had 12 points, and Samson nine, while Conner Glines pulled down eight boards.
The Lions finished with 12 three-pointers and three conventional three-point plays with all of its 30 second half points being of the three-point variety.
BRITTON-HECLA: Will Richter 2 0-0 5, Graham Fosness 5 1-2 12, Chaz Vietor 5 2-3 14, Jordyn McGregor 1 0-0 2, Jaxon Zuehlke 4 3-8 11, Ben Folkman 1 0-0 2, Nathan Folkman 0 1-2 1, Daniel Person 5 3-5 14. Totals 23 10-20 61.
LANGFORD AREA: Jacob Samson 3 0-0 9, Kassen Keough 10 1-1 28, Ethen Olson 1 0-0 2, Conner Glines 1 0-0 2, Caleb Mertz 4 2-2 12. Totals 19 3-3 53.
BH (9-6) 18 28 48 61
LA (3-11) 19 23 41 53
3-point goals – Richter, Fosness, Vietor 2, Person; Samson 3, Keough 7, Mertz 2. Fouled out – Mertz. Total fouls – BH 11, LA 13.
Sisseton 54
Britton-Hecla 45
Sisseton connected on 12 three-pointers and outscored the Braves 41-18 in the middle two periods to put the game away.
“Statistically this is a game we did well in all aspects except three-point shooting,” said Knecht. “They made 12 and we made four. I was surprised to see that they only took 14 shots inside the three-point line. That tells me we did a good job on the interior defending.
“Our low scoring first half (11 points) really dug us a hole we couldn’t climb out of. We have to get some of those buckets close to the basket early that we’ve been missing to build some confidence. It’s another one we need to forget. Hopefully we can start scoring the ball better and can create some energy in the first quarter.”
Daniel Person had 16 points and eight rebounds to lead the Braves. Jaxon Zuehlke added six boards and four steals, and Will Richter had six assists.
BRITTON-HECLA: Will Richter 4 0-0 9, Jace Rein 0 2-2 2, Graham Fosness 3 1-2 8, Daniel Person 6 3-5 16, Chaz Vietor 1 0-0 2, Jordyn McGregor 1 0-0 3, Jaxon Zuehlke 2 1-6 5. Totals 17-52 7-15 45.
SISSETON: Levi Nelson 0 0-4 0, Carter Stickland 5 3-4 17, Brett Hansen 2 1-2 5, Bradley Hansen 3 0-0 9, Jeremias Perez 2 0-2 6, Vincent BagolDonnell 3 0-0 8, Derick Flute 4 0-1 9. Totals 19-42 4-13 54.
BH (8-6) 5 11 23 45
Sisseton (5-8) 9 25 50 54
3-point goals – Richter, Fosness, Person, McGregor; Stickland 4, B. Hansen 3, Perez 2, BagolaDonnell 2, Flute. Total fouls – BH 14, Sisseton 15.
