Bobcats bury Tigers 56-38

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BROOKINGS – The Bobcats took care of business on Thursday night at Bob Jostad.

Brookings jumped out to a 17-3 lead after a quarter; led 26-14 at halftime; and then put Harrisburg away with a 19-11 edge in the third to cruise to a 56-38 Eastern South Dakota Conference win.

“Really good start – defensively, we were locked in, which I think is important because I think we have proven when we are good defensively, we are a darn good basketball team,” said Bobcat head coach Travis Engebretson. “Offensively, good ball movement to start the game, so we did a nice job.

“They switched to zone to start the second quarter and we kind of struggled against that so we have areas to improve.”

Drew Cole book-ended a pair of baskets at the end of the first and start of the second quarters to push the Bobcat lead to 16 points just 10 seconds into the second frame.

The Tigers managed to rally back within nine points at 23-14 inside of minute to play before halftime, but Josh Mohs found Brennan Carlson alone outside the arc for a 3-pointer that pushed the home team’s lead back to double digits heading into intermission.

It didn’t take long for Brookings to extend its lead in the third quarter as Mohs went coast-to-coast after a steal to put the ‘Cats up 17, 36-19, with 5:36 on the clock.

Less than two minutes later, Mohs took another steal the length of the floor to make it a 19-point game at 40-21.

Devin Coughlin was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 4 seconds left in the third and he knocked down all three tosses to give Brookings its largest lead at 20 points, 45-25, heading into the final frame.

Harrisburg got within 15 points with 3:05 left to play but two free throws by Carter Holm and an impressive offensive-rebound basket by Drew Cole pushed the margin back to 19 points with less than two minutes to play.

Chase Altenburg went 1-2 from the line for the Tigers with 1:27 left for the final margin.

Holm led the Bobcats with 13 points, to go along with six rebounds, while Carlson added 12 points and four assists as Brookings improved to 11-2 and 9-2 in the ESD. Mohs finished with nine points, six dimes and four steals as Cole contributed eight points and seven boards and Coughlin chipped in with eight points.

Wil Johnson scored 11 points for the Tigers, who dropped to 3-10 and 2-9 in league play.

The Bobcats travel to Watertown on Saturday to take on the Arrows in a 7:30 p.m. ESD matchup at the Civic Arena.