CHAMBERLAIN — The Sioux Valley boys’ basketball team qualified for its fifth straight state tournament on Tuesday night as the Cossacks beat Lakota Tech 68-57 in the Class A SoDak 16.

“It was, as always, a great thrill to get the win (in the SoDak 16),” said Sioux Valley head coach Bill Vincent. “When you get into these games, the last step to qualify for state, a lot of emotion and energy comes with it from both sides, and that’s what we saw tonight. It’s a fifth straight (state tournament qualification) and eight of the last 11. It doesn’t get old. It feels the same every time.”

It was a fast pace, up-and-down first half for both teams. Sioux Valley led 16-9 in the first quarter, but the Tatanka cut the lead to 20-18 at the end of the quarter. The Cossacks would extend the lead to five in the second quarter and took a 39-34 lead into halftime.

Vincent said his team went into the game with the mindset of taking it each minute at a time.

“At every quarter break it was about celebrating winning that quarter. We talked a lot about all 32 minutes coming into the game and just kind of counted down the minutes from there. At halftime they had really come at us, but we had the lead and we reminded our guys of that,” Vincent said.

A three from Jace Christensen put the Cossacks in front 49-40 near the midway point of the third. But the Tatanka wouldn’t go away again. Lakota Tech cut the Sioux Valley lead back to five and the Cossacks led 53-48 heading into the fourth.

Sioux Valley extended its lead to 55-48, but the Tatanka cut it to 56-52 with just under four minutes to play. The Cossacks then scored six straight points to stretch the lead to 10 with 1:45 left in the game. Sioux Valley made its free throws down the stretch and South Dakota State commit Alec Squires put the exclamation point on the win when he threw down a two-handed dunk with just under 30 seconds left and the Cossacks punched their ticket to the state tournament again.

Vincent said his team took advantage of the Tatanka having to go small in the fourth quarter due to foul trouble.

“We got them in some foul trouble (in the first three quarters), so we thought we were in a pretty good spot, but they just kept coming at us. When their bigs got in foul trouble they had all guards on the floor and we had to make some adjustments, and once we did we got some really nice buckets to close out that game at the rim. It was just a game of adjustments all night,” Vincent said.

Squires had a huge game for the Cossacks as he had 22 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks. Vincent said it was a special night for Squires as he set two school records and helped his team qualify for the state tournament in his senior season.

“We knew that he would have to be big and he was. … What a performance. To go for 20 and 20. He came into the game 15 rebounds away from the school record for all-time rebounds, so he now owns that. He came into the game two blocks away from the all-time leader in blocked shots, so he also owns that. Those were a couple big milestones that he got along the way in a big win,” Vincent said.

The Cossacks shot 50% from the field and were 3-of-15 from three. Hudsyn Ruesink had a double-double as well with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Maxwell Engebretson had 13 points. Maverick Nelson had eight points and Christensen had seven points and five assists.

Lakota Tech shot 32.4% from the field and was 7-of-32 from three. Gilbert White Jr. led the Tatanka with 24 points. Julian Tonche had 14 points and Riley Casey had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Sioux Valley had 46 rebounds and Lakota Tech had 28. The Cossacks had 17 turnovers and the Tatanka had seven. Sioux Valley was 15-of-21 at the free throw line and Lakota Tech was 4-of-9.

The Cossacks are now 21-2 this season. Their two losses came in back-to-back games as they fell to De Smet, who is ranked No. 2 in Class B, and Hamlin, who is ranked No. 2 in Class A. The loss to De Smet came in overtime, but the loss to the Chargers was by 32 points.

Sioux Valley was a little banged up in those two games and since then the Cossacks have won seven-straight games and five of them have come by 30 points or more. They also beat Castlewood during this win streak and the Warriors are ranked third in Class B.

Vincent said he’s loved the way his team has responded since falling in those two games.

“We have a relentless team that keeps finding ways to win,” Vincent said. “Our only hiccup in the season this year was when two starters were down with sprained ankles. We were without Boden Schiller and Jace Christensen for three games. … We still kind of survived that stretch. We were a bounce away from winning that De Smet game. The kids, we challenged them when we got everyone back healthy.

“We were going to Deuel the next game after those back-to-back losses and the kids responded and it really fueled our tank beating Castlewood at Castlewood. It seems like each night out we’ve gotten a little bit better and that’s just a sign of the kids that we have this year. We’ve found different ways to win even though we were counted out after losing some great guys last year to graduation.”

During this stretch of state tournament appearances the Cossacks haven’t been able to win it all. They were runner-up in both 2021 and 2022 and last season they won the consolation championship. Sioux Valley will be the No. 3 seed in this year’s tournament and will play No. 6 Rapid City Christian in Rapid City on March 14. The Cossacks beat the Comets 71-65 on Jan. 20.

Vincent said his group of upperclassmen are hungry to get back to the championship game and this time they want to bring back a state title to Volga.

“They’ve tasted being to the championship game and they’ve tasted having to fight their way back after losing the opening game (in the state tournament). It was really gutsy to come back and get those two wins in the state tournament (last year) and then start this season with 14 wins. It was a great run to go on, but we also learned from the couple setbacks we had (this year) and we got back on our streak. They seem really determined to get themselves back (in the championship game),” Vincent said.