The Langford Area boys basketball squad came up short in a pair of back-to-back holiday classic games last week.
Coach Brian Schuring’s crew fell to Lemmon 62-49 in the Langford Area Classic on Thursday and Sanborn Central-Woonsocket-Wessington downed the Lions 53-44 in the Huron Classic on Friday.
Langford Area stood at 13 heading into a contest with Redfield last night Tuesday. Thursday the Lions play at Waubay-Summit and Friday hit the road against Herreid-Selby.
Lemmon 62 LA 49
LA had a miserable first half but rallied to make the game respectable and outscored Lemmon by 15 in the final two periods.
“Lemmon was a big, physical team that created some mismatches for us on defense,” said Schuring. “We struggled shooting in the first half, however, we played really well in the second half and never gave up, which was nice to see.”
The Lions opened the game with a three-pointer from Kassen Keough but managed just six more points over the next 14 minutes, trailing 35-9 with 25 seconds to play in the first half. Rennan Bruns finally hit a trey and Jesse Keough a fielder in the final 10 seconds to cut the margin to 3514 at the half.
LA battled Lemmon on even terms in the third period. Kassen Keough hit eight points, including a pair of treys, in the first four minutes in the first pair of treys, to cut the margin to 16, and Bruns canned a trey from the corner at the end of the period to cut the lead to 52-35 at the break.
Then the Lions made it interesting. Bruns and Jesse Keough both hit threes, Jesse Keough added a conventional three-point play, and Kassen Keough hit another trey to cap a 12-3 run and suddenly Lemmon’s lead was cut to 10, 57-47, with 2:54 to play. But LA was not able to get any closer.
The brother duo of Jesse and Kassen Keough each scored 16 points to lead the LA attack. Bruns added nine, Carter Block four, and Keegan Schock and Kalen Godel two each. Jesse Keough also grabbed seven rebounds, and Shock and Godel had four boards apiece.
Lemmon (1-2) 17 35 54 62 LA (1-2) 10 18 32 50
SC-Woon.-Wess. 53 LA 44
Langford Area was outscored 23-10 in the second quarter and was not able to dig out of a 30-20 halftime hole.
“We struggled playing back-to-back games and were short-handed with Jackson Bahr missing the last two games,” said Schuring. “We gave everything we had physically, however, our tanks were running on empty the second half. Credit to the boys for giving everything they had.”
LA did lead 10-7 after one period, but Sanborn Central-Woonsocket-Wessington was up 10 at half and padded that margin to 42-29 after three stanzas, holding on to win by nine.
Jesse Keough led the Lions with 19 points, eight rebounds, and a pair of assists. Kassen Keough added 14 points and two steals, Keegan Schock had four counters, Rennan Bruns three, and Carter Block and Kalen Godel two each. Bruns and Block both added four rebounds.
LA (1-3) 10 20 29 44 SC (2-1) 7 30 42 53 By Jack & Duane Kolslrud
With a chance to play for the number one seed in Week 18, the Minnesota Vikings laid an absolute egg against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, losing 41-17, and falling to 12-4 on the season.
With the 49ers’ win, the Vikings currently sit as the three seed in the NFC playoffs. For how crazy this Vikings’ season has been, the Vikings have been surprisingly very consistent this year. The team either wins a highly-intense close game or gets blown out embarrassingly.
There was probably only one highlight for the Vikings on Sunday and it came on a blocked punt by Josh Metellus early in the first quarter. Even though the Vikings’ offense would get the ball at the Packers’ one-yard line because of that blocked punt, they were unable to score a touchdown and had to settle for a field goal to give them a 3-0 lead. On the following kickoff, the Packers would return the kick for a touchdown and the Vikings would never have a lead again in this game.
The Vikings’ offense looked horrible on Sunday in nearly every facet of the game. Kirk Cousins had three interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, and a fumble lost. Justin Jefferson struggled to get open as he kept slipping on the grass at Lambeau Field. Jefferson, who ended the game with only one catch, was visibly frustrated the entire game as the Packers’ defense doubled him at any chance they could get.
And lastly, the running game never got going as Alexander Mattison finished the game as the Vikings’ leading rusher with only 38 yards rushing. Before the final drive, Cousins was surprisingly the Vikings’ leading rusher for the Vikings in the game.
To make matters worse, the Vikings played almost the entire game down two of its offensive linemen. Austin Schlottmann, who has been filling in for Garrett Bradbury over the past few weeks, got hurt on the opening drive of the game. Because of it, the Vikings had to use backup guard, Chris Reed, as the center for the rest of the game. Reed’s lack of experience showed as the Vikings’ committed multiple false starts because of him. Also, Brian O’Neill got hurt early in the game as well, which caused the Vikings to play three quarters with only six healthy offensive linemen. If O’Neill is unable to go the rest of the season, that will be a huge blow for the Vikings as O’Neill and Darrisaw have been the best offensive tackle pairing in the NFL this year.
With the Vikings’ loss and the number one seed out of contention, the question now for the Vikings becomes whether they will rest their starters this week against the Chicago Bears. They are currently down multiple offensive linemen to injuries and have an old defense that looks like they could use a “bye week.” Also, the Bears currently hold the #2 overall pick in the draft based on their record and a win would likely ruin their draft position. Because of that, it might be a game where both teams go into it with no desire to go all out for a victory in any way.
