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 last week Tuesday and then saw its season come to an end against Groton Area in the regional semifinals 60-29 on Friday.
The B-H victory was the first time in 16 years that the team won a Class A regional game. Exactly one month earlier Sisseton had defeated the Braves 54-45. Groton Area (16-5) was seeded eighth and played #9 Winner (16-5) in a SoDak 16 game last night Tuesday for a state tourney berth. B-H finished its season with a 10-12 mark.
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 left. 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 Jordyn 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.
Groton Area 60
Britton-Hecla 29
For the first four minutes of the regional semifinals it looked like the Braves had forgotten all about a 32-point loss to Groton Area just two weeks earlier and were going to give the Tigers all they could handle.
Daniel Person hit a bucket and free toss, Jaxon Zuehlke put a rebound back for two, Graham Fosness hit inside, and Knecht’s club trailed just 9-7 at the 3:50 mark of the opening quarter. But then things changed.
B-H went scoreless for nearly five minutes and Groton Area went on a 21-2 run, hitting four treys and connecting on 10-11 field goal tries in the opening period. When the dust had cleared the Braves found themselves on the short end of a 30-9 score two minutes into the second period and that margin ballooned to 46-15 at intermission.
Fosness opened the second half with the first of his two treys in the game, but then Groton reeled off an 11-1 run to boost the lead to 57-19 after three quarters.
“This was a game I had high hopes of competing in but the reality is they are just at a different place in their program right now,” said Knecht. “They shoot the ball well, they’ve got kids with experience and athletic ability, they’re well coached, and they play hard. Generally they’ve got the kind of program we want to be. I think we are close to getting there but we will need to do a lot of work in the off-season.
“We played hard and competed, which I expected. I’m proud of the guys for winning that first region game and being in a position to play for a SoDak 16 appearance. We took some great strides this year by winning 10 games. Hopefully we put a bunch of work in this summer and can take another step in towards what we want to achieve.
“I’d like to thank my two dseniors - Dan Person and Jordyn McGregor,” concluded Knecht. “They weathered some pretty rough seasons and stuck with it. I’m glad we were able to get 10 wins and get that first round region game for them.”
Fosness led B-H scorers with 10. Jaxon Zuehlke grabbed six rebounds and McGregor hauled down four. The Braves shot just 27% from the field compared to Groton Area’s 53%.
BRITTON-HECLA: Will Richter 1 1-3 3, Graham Fosness 3 2-2 10, Dan Person 1 1-2 3, Jaxon Zuehlke 3 0-0 6, Ben Folkman 1 0-0 2, Chaz Vietor 2 0-0 4, Jace Rein 0 1-2 1. Totals 11 5-9 29.
GROTON AREA: Ryder Johnson 5 1-4 11, Keegen Tracy 3 0-0 7, Gage Sippel 3 2-3 8, Becker Bosma 6 0-0 15, Karson Zak 2 0-0 6, Easton Weber 1 0-0 3, Turner Thompson 2 0-0 5, Jayden Schwan 1 0-0 3, Teylor Diegel 0 2-2 2. Totals 24-45 5-9 60.
BH (10-12) 7 15 19 29
GA (16-5) 22 46 57 60
3-point goals – Fosness 2; Tracy, Bosma, Zak 2, Weber, Thompson, Schwan. Total fouls – BH 10, GA 13.
