BROOKINGS – After opening a 23-6 first-quarter lead, the Pierre T.F. Governors nearly let their entire lead vanish midway through the third quarter.
But after a bench technical on Pierre, the Governors went on a 16-0 run and maintained that advantage in defeating the Bobcats, 62-41 on Tuesday night in Brookings.
Down 17 after a quarter, coach Travis Engebretson was pleased with the effort to get back into the game in the second quarter, outscoring the Govs 19-7 and trimming the lead to five at the half.
“[It was] a great response. The lead was 17 at the end of the first quarter and the kids came out and responded. We got some quality stops on defense, only gave up seven points in the second quarter and were able to score enough points to get ourselves back in the game,” he said.
The lead was down to three with 4:39 left in the third when Pierre head coach Terry Becker was T’ed up for coming on to the floor to protest a no-call under their offensive basket.
After Nick Schefers made 1-of-2 technical free throws to make it 30-28, the Bobcats had an opportunity to tie or take the lead with possession off the tech.
Instead, Schefers’ 3-pointer rattled off the rim. Pierre’s Lincoln Kienholz buried a trey and was fouled on the other end and converted the four-point-play, which provided the initial spark to the third-quarter run that put the Bobcats away.
Two minutes later the lead for Pierre was 12, grew to 15 at the end of the third and ballooned to 26 late in the fourth quarter.
For Engebretson, defense was the key on both ends of the court, both in how the Bobcats attacked the Pierre zone defense and on the other end of the court.
“Offensively, for us, they play a lot of zone defense, which we haven’t seen all season long, and that zone defense just frustrated us all night long,” Engebretson said. “And then our defense a lot of times has to be perfect. And there’s nights where it is pretty good, but tonight we just gave up some looks.”
Each team snared ten offensive rebounds, but with Pierre making eleven more baskets than the Bobcats, it allowed the Governors to settle into that zone defense on the inbound, a key fact that was in the scouting report.
“The one thing that we said is that if we got stops on defense, they’re going to be playing man-to-man defense and that’s something they don’t necessarily want to do,” stated the head coach.
Only one player scored in double figures for the Bobcats.
Schefers – who on Tuesday announced his commitment to play collegiately at Briar Cliff University – tossed in 15 and snared eight rebounds.
The rest of the Bobcats starting five accounted for just 11 of the other 26 points.
Jett Leddy was the next highest Bobcat contributor, scoring five points after entering the game with just 2:42 remaining.
Inconsistency, stated Engebretson – “it’s been the name of the game,” has been the bugaboo for the Bobcats in 2020-2021.
Kienholz led Pierre (7-11, 3-5 ESD) and all scorers with 28 points on 18 shots, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.
Jackson Edman was the only other Governor in double figures, adding 13 and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Brookings – 3-15 overall and 2-10 in the ESD – has one game remaining in the regular season, a Saturday afternoon matinee against the Harrisburg Tigers, who defeated the Bobcats 67-32 roughly two months ago.
The Tigers – who currently stand fourth in class AA seed points – boast a formidable starting five according to Engebretson.
“They’ve got three really good guards, and two really good post players. Their starting five is probably one of the best in the state. Because of their length they’re going to pose a lot of problems on the defensive side of things.”
Tip off for the Bobcats and Tigers is at 3 p.m. Saturday in Bob Jostad Gymnasium.
PIERRE 62, BROOKINGS 41
Pierre (7-11)
Jackson Edman 6-10 1-2 13, Houston Lunde 1-3 0-0 3, Lincoln 10-18 3-3 28, Matthew Hanson 0-10 1-2 1, Bennett Dean 1-4 0-0 2, Jacob Mayer 1-3 0-0 3, Jack Merkwan 2-4 0-0 4, Christian Busch 1-1 0-0 2, Braedon Foster 0-0 0-0 0, Denton Beck 2-2 2-2 6. Totals 24-55 7-9 62.
Brookings (3-15)
Nick Schefers 3-10 8-10 15, Brock Longville 1-3 0-0 2, Zach Moe 1-4 0-2 2, Casey Woodall 2-5 0-1 4, Henry Hammrich 1-8 0-0 3, Sam Hardin 0-1 0-0 0, Keegan Fields 1-3 0-0 2, Jack Even 1-1 0-1 3, Max Struck 1-2 0-0 2, Jett Leddy 1-3 2-2 5, Noah Bayer 1-3 1-2 3, Jake Ammann 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-44 11-18 41.
Pierre. 23 7 13 19 – 62
Brookings 6 19 3 13 – 41
3-point goals – P 7-23 (Kienholz 5-10, Mayer 1-2, Lunde 1-3, Dean 0-1, Merkwan 0-1), B 4-16 (Even 1-1, Hammrich 1-2, Leddy 1-2, Schefers 1-6, Ammann 0-1, Moe 0-2, Bayer 0-2). Rebounds – P 37 (Edman 11), B 33 (Schefers 8). Assists – P 10 (Edman 5), B 7 (Hammrich 2). Steals – P 8 (Lunde 4), B 7 (Woodall 3). Blocks – P 7 (Edman 6), B 3 (Hammrich 3). Turnovers – P 13, B 19. Total fouls – P 18, B 14. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – Pierre bench.
GIRLS
• Pierre 56, Brookings 38
PIERRE – The Governors (8-12) defeated the Bobcats (2-17) in the regular-season finale.
Pierre led 13-7 after a quarter, 30-13 at halftime and 47-22 through three.
The Bobcats’ Ainsley Shelsta had 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Landree Wilson added eight points and five assists. Allie Clark totaled five points and five assists.
The Class AA Girls’ SoDak 16 is Friday, March 5.
