Britton-Hecla avenged a regular season loss and posted its first regional win that wasn’t a play-in game since 2018 (Class B) with a 51-49 win over Sisseton in Region 1A action in Britton on Tuesday.
The B-H victory was the first time in 16 years that the team won a Class A regional game. The Braves played in Class B from 2018-2024 with this year being the first season back in the Class A ranks. Exactly one month earlier Sisseton had defeated the Braves 54-45.
The fourth-seeded Braves, now 10-11 on the season, will travel to #1 Groton Area (15-5) on Friday for a 7 p.m. semifinal matchup. Groton Area defeated the Braves 63-31 on Feb. 21.
Friday’s winner will advance to the SoDak 16 to determine the eight state tournament qualifiers on Tuesday. Aberdeen Roncalli will take on Milbank in the other regional semifinal.
Tuesday’s contest resembled a heavyweight boxing match with the Braves knocking the Redmen to the mat on three different occasions but they could never deliver a knockout punch.
Sisseton got off to a good start, taking a 9-5 lead at the 4:15 mark of the opening period, but then the Redmen went nearly 10 minutes without scoring a point as the Braves fullcourt pressure and stiff defense took its toll. By the time Sisseton scored with 2:34 remaining in the half the Braves led 17-11 and extended that to 21-11 at intermission. Senior Daniel Person hit eight straight points to fuel the 16-2 run and Jordyn McGregor added a pair of buckets.
“Our defensive effort in the first half was outstanding,” said B-H coach Troy Knecht. “We went to our 1-3-1 midway through the first quarter and held them to two points in a 12-plus minute stretch going into the half.”
Sisseton put their shooting woes behind them in the third stanza, hitting a trio of treys in the first three minutes to quickly cut the Braves lead to 25-24. But the Braves answered with three straight Person free tosses and Jaxon Zuehlke muscled in a bucket in the paint to boost the lead back to seven less than two minutes later and led 35-28 after three periods.
The Redmen kept things interesting in the final quarter, cutting the lead to 38-36 with 5:01 to play. But once again the Braves had an answer on a Zuehlke follow shot, Chaz Vietor scored inside off a Will Richter assist, and Richter added two free tosses to seemingly put the Braves in control with a 44-36 lead with just 1:32 to play.
Once again the Redmen came off the mat to get right back into the game. Carter Stickland netted a three-pointer and followed that up with a four-point play when he was fouled on a made trey from the top of the key. Person hit a pair of free tosses but Sisseton hit again from downtown and trailed by just one, 47-46, with 38 seconds left.
Then the B-H defense paid dividends again. After a Braves’ turnover, Zuehlke dove for a loose ball, gaining possession for the Braves. Richter hit the first of two free tosses but Vietor rebounded the miss and Person added another free toss for a 49-46 lead with 14 seconds remaining.
Then B-H forced a Sisseton turnover and Vietor canned two free tosses with four seconds left to ensure the win, making Sisseton’s trey at the buzzer meaningless.
“In the second half we got out of position a lot on the defensive end and allowed penetration which led to them getting better looks,” noted Knecht. “They mounted a comeback but in the end we held out.”
Person led a balanced B-H scoring effort with 17 points, hitting 9-10 free throw tries as the Braves were 17-23 at the line. Five other players had at least six points. B-H hit 55% of its two-point field goal tries but was 0-11 from beyond the arc.
Zuehlke had eight rebounds and McGregor grabbed six, Vietor was credited with three blocked shots. The Braves turned the ball over just 12 times and forced 19 Sisseton miscues.
“We really shot free-throws well down the stretch which is a big step for us,” concluded Knecht. “Throughout the game when we were patient on offense we got great looks. I think we took a big step as a program winning our 10th game of the year and showing some resolve at the end of that game. That’s a team that beat us by nine earlier on a bad night. The kids rebounded well from that and I’m very proud of them.”
SISSETON: Levi Nelson 1 1-2 4, Carter Stickland 6 1-1 18, Brett Hansen 1 2-2 5, Bradley Hansen 1 0-0 2, Dana Bravebull 1 0-0 2, Derrick Flute 7 2-2 18. Totals 17-54 6-7 49.
BRITTON-HECLA: Will Richter 1 4-8 6, Graham Fosness 2 2-3 6, Daniel Person 4 9-10 17, Chaz Vietor 3 2-2 8, Jordyn McGregor 3 0-0 6, Jaxon Zuehlke 4 0-0 8. Totals 17-42 17-23 51.
Sisseton (7-14) 9 11 28 49
BH (10-11) 11 21 35 51
3-point goals – Stickland 5, Flute 2, Nelson, Brett Hansen. Total fouls – Sisseton 20, BH 13.
