Bobcats beat Govs 56-52

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BROOKINGS – If the Bobcats had any hopes for postseason play, Friday night’s 56-52 Eastern South Dakota Conference win over Pierre kept those alive.

Brookings, seeded 17th coming into the ESD clash, improves to 4-14 on the season and 4-11 in conference play, while the Governors dropped to 5-12 and 5-8.

“It was a great team effort,” said Bobcat head coach Travis Engebretson. “First half, I felt we did a good job on the offensive end moving the basketball – (Pierre) plays a lot of man-zone; they mix it up in there – for quite a while, we didn’t know if they were in man or zone, because our ball movement was so good.

“They brought the pressure and we did a good job with that. Defensively, it was very good down the stretch – we did a good job of contesting shots; (Peyton) Zabel had to earn every one down the stretch.

“Offensively, we did a nice job of executing – we didn’t always score – but if we make our free throws, we probably win that game by 10.”

It looked as if the ‘Cats were going to put the game away early as they went on an 11-3 run late in the first frame to go up 17-10.

Riley Schafer started the surge with an old-fashioned three-point play after a Pierre turnover before Trevor Woodall knocked down a 3-pointer. Drew Cole added another three-point play after scoring down low, and then, Schafer came up with a steal and found Trent Broksieck for a layup in transition for the seven-point lead.

Chase Sattgast’s shot beat the buzzer to get the Governors back within 17-12 after the first 8 minutes.

Woodall opened the second-quarter scoring to push the ‘Cats’ lead back to seven, but Pierre rallied to tie the game on Carson Tschtter’s 3-pointer with 2 minutes left, and then, took the lead on another trey by Andrew Coverdale.

Schafer hit two free throws with 28 seconds to play to get Brookings within 27-26 at halftime.

Seth Swedlund’s offensive putback put the Bobcats back up, 28-27, right away in the third quarter, but the lead changed hands three times as Pierre led 38-36 heading into the final frame.

The teams traded baskets to open the fourth – Drew Cole for the ‘Cats and Jack Maher for the Govs – before Josh Sell went coast-to-coast after a steal, and then, sank the free throw to give Brookings a 41-40 advantage with 5:09 left.

The Bobcats put together a 9-2 run over the next 3 minutes to push their lead to 50-42. Schafer and Broksieck scored on back-to-back possessions, before Zabel and Schafer traded free throws. Woodall hit a 3-pointer for the eight-point edge, but Tschetter countered with his own 3, and then, Zabel scored in the lane to get the Govs within three at 50-47 with 1:13 to play.

Schafer went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe before Zabel knocked down two to make it 51-49 with 45 ticks on the clock.

Woodall was fouled and made it a two-possession game – 53-49 – with two free tosses, and then, hit 1-of-2 with 21 seconds left for a 54-49 lead.

Zabel’s 3-pointer with 17 seconds to play narrowed the gap to two, and Schafer could only convert the second toss of a double-bonus. That gave Pierre a chance to tie on its next possession, but a 3-point attempt drew iron and Sell came down with the rebound and was fouled.

His free throw provided for the 56-52 final.

The senior duo of Schafer and Sell put up 16 points apiece as Schafer came up with three steals to go along with two assists and Sell collected a pair of steals. Woodall added 11 points and nine rebounds. 

Zabel was the only Governor to tally double digits as he led all scorers with 26 points, in addition to pulling down nine boards and coming up with four takeaways.

On Tuesday, Brookings travels to Yankton for an ESD matchup with the Bucks.

BROOKINGS 56, PIERRE 52

Pierre (5-12, 5-8 ESD)

Peyton Zabel 9-10 6-7 26, Jack Maher 3-9 0-2 6, Carson Tschetter 3-8 0-0 9, Matt Maxfield 0-5 0-0 0, Garrett Stout 1-6 1-2 3, Chase Sattgast 1-2 2-2 4, Andrew Coverdale 1-1 0-0 3, Dawson Puepke 0-0 1-2 1, Grey Zabel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-51 10-15 52. 

Brookings (4-14, 4-11 ESD)

Seth Swedlund 1-2 2-2 4, Drew Cole 2-5 1-1 5, Riley Schafer 4-12 8-13 16, Trevor Woodall 3-5 3-5 11, Josh Sell 6-11 4-7 16, Tyler Kreutner 0-0 0-0, Trent Broksieck 2-4 0-0 4, Jacob Engen 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan McMacken 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 18-40 18-30 56.

Pierre 12  15  11  14  –  52

Brookings 17    9  10  20  –  56

3-point goals – P 6-22 (Zabel 2-7, Tschetter 3-8, Maxfield 0-1, Stout 0-5, Coverdale 1-1); B 2-10 (Cole 0-3, Schafer 0-1, Woodall 2-2, Sell 0-3, Broksieck 0-1). Rebounds – P 33 (Maher 11); B 34 (Woodall 9). Assists – P 9 (Stout 5); B 5 (Schafer 2). Steals – P 9 (Zabel 4, Tschetter 4); B 6 (Schafer 3). Blocks – P 1 (Zabel); B 4 (Cole 3, Sell). Turnovers – P 10; B 11. Total fouls – P 24; B 13. Fouled out – Maxfield. Technical fouls – None.