RAPID CITY – The Bobcats capped a 20-win season and sent their seven seniors out on a positive note with a 71-70 double-overtime victory over Harrisburg during the Class AA State Boys’ Basketball Tournament seventh-place game on Saturday afternoon at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Ice Arena.
All-Tournament honoree Brennan Carlson scored a career-high 29 points, including the game winning basket with 17 seconds remaining.
Devin Coughlin assisted on the key hoop, driving the lane and finding an open Carlson for a layup.
“It was a great pass,” said Carlson, who added 11 rebounds to complete the double-double. “I don’t remember if it was a pick-and-roll, but I just ended up on the baseline (and) my guy left to go contest (Coughlin’s) shot thinking he’d shoot it.
“But he saw me, passed down and it was an easy bucket – just 2 feet away.”
Harrisburg’s Brady VanHolland was off the mark on a contested 3-point attempt on the other end, and Ace Zorr tipped in the miss; however, it came after the buzzer sounded.
“It was just raw emotion; two days; Thursday kind of having our heart ripped out. It was a good basketball game. We battled yesterday and then just coming back and finding a way, you know,” BHS coach Travis Engebretson said. “It was a lot of emotion before the game on my part and from the seniors. This was their last big game. I’m just very proud of the effort and the fact they continued to battle and found a way.”
The Tigers led at each quarter break, including 18-17 after the first and 32-30 at halftime.
Nick Hoyt converted a four-point play to push the margin to a game-high eight points – 50-42 – with 1:05 remaining in the third.
The Bobcats cut the deficit to 52-47 after three and later used a 6-0 spurt – Carlson sandwiched a pair of buckets around two free throws – to pull even at 58-58 midway through the final frame.
The score was knotted three more times in regulation, including at 63-63 after Brookings’ Carter Holm made a foul shot with 54 seconds to go.
Jameson Meyer drew a charge on the other end as the Bobcats had the final possession with the score tied at the end of regulation and again to close the first OT but couldn’t convert.
Both teams managed just two points in the first overtime.
The Tigers’ Chase Altenberg went 1-of-2 at the stripe at the 2:43 mark; Carlson made 2-of-2 with 1:42 left for the Bobcats; and Zorr added a 1-of-2 effort with 22 seconds showing on the clock tie to it at 65-all.
Zorr, who totaled 23 points for the game, scored down low 21 seconds into the second extra frame and the Tigers didn’t trail again until Carlson’s late bucket.
“It was a hard-fought battle; two great efforts from both teams,” Carlson added. “I really think Harrisburg played phenomenal; they played really well, hit some good shots early on in the game and just continued to battle later on.”
Coughlin and Holm both went 1-of-2 from the line to pull Brookings even at 67-all with 2:30 to go.
Zorr hit a pair of foul shots with 2:15 to play, but Coughlin tied the score for a 15th and final time by going 2-of-3 at the stripe with 1:58 showing on the clock.
Harrisburg took its final lead at 70-69 via a Zorr foul shot with 1:42 left.
Carlson finished 9-of-16 from the field and 11-of-15 at the line.
“Brennan is just the ultimate competitor,” said Engebretson. “I’m happy for him from that standpoint that he went out and played his heart out. But, you know, all seven of our seniors did.
“I’m just proud of them for how hard they came out and played today.”
All seven Bobcat seniors found the scoring column in their finale.
Holm totaled 14 points, five rebounds and a pair of assists.
Sam Wilber contributed eight points off the bench.
Josh Mohs finished with seven points and six boards.
Reserve Ryan Argust made both his shot attempts for five points.
Meyer added two points and drew an incredible four charges on the defensive end.
“They mean so much to me, they mean so much to our program not for what they did on the basketball court but them as character kids,” Engebretson said. “I mean, my children look up to them, especially my two boys playing basketball really look up to them. And that, to me, says a lot about who those kids are. The academic part of that, I mean, those seven guys have like a 3.6 GPA, which is truly amazing. Just the role models they are for our kids.
“And the crowds we were able to get and kind of putting Brookings basketball back on the map this one year. It’s up to these juniors to kind of keep that going; they’ve had great leadership from those seven guys.
“I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished now, but I know they’re going to go on to bigger and better things.”
Carlson said playing with this group has been “everything.”
“Growing up as kids, we’ve been a great group working and playing basketball together,” he added. “This is the biggest sport for every single one of us and we’ve worked so hard during the summer for our goals. It’s disappointing that we came out here and got seventh place; we were definitely hoping for a little bit more. But that’s behind us and it’s been amazing with these guys.”
As for the 20-win mark, the second-seeded Bobcats (20-6), who won their first ESD Conference title since 1988, were one of two Class AA boys’ teams in the state to accomplish the feat this year.
“That, today, was kind of the salvaging point was finding a way to get that 20th win,” noted Engebretson. “That’s pretty special. I’ve been in Brookings 19 years; we had 19 wins a few years back; I know we’ve been there once or twice before, but it’s probably been back to the days of the ESD championships. So that’s definitely something to be proud of, too.”
BROOKINGS 71, HARRISBURG 70 (2OT)
Harrisburg (12-15)
Brady VanHolland 5-8 3-4 16, Chase Altenburg 1-6 3-4 6, Wil Johnson 1-5 1-1 3, Justis Clayton 2-5 2-4 6, Ace Zorr 8-12 7-11 23, Elliot Cain 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Lanier 1-2 0-0 3, Michael Curry 1-2 0-0 3, Nick Walter 0-0 0-0 0, Alec Hammond 1-2 0-0 2, Nick Hoyt 2-8 2-3 8. Totals 22-50 18-27 70.
Brookings (20-6)
Josh Mohs 3-13 0-0 7, Carter Holm 2-8 9-12 14, Jameson Meyer 1-4 0-0 2, Brennan Carlson 9-16 11-15 29, Devin Coughlin 1-7 3-5 6, Sam Wilber 3-5 0-0 8, Ryan Argust 2-2 0-0 5, Drew Cole 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 21-58 23-32 71.
Harrisburg 18 14 20 11 2 5 – 70
Brookings 17 13 17 16 2 6 – 71
3-point goals – H 8-22 (VanHolland 3-6, Hoyt 2-5, Curry 1-1, Lanier 1-2, Altenburg 1-3, Hammond 0-1, Johnson 0-4), B 6-19 (Wilber 2-4, Argust 1-1, Coughlin 1-2, Holm 1-5, Mohs 1-6, Carlson 0-1). Rebounds – H 33 (Hammond 5), B 37 (Carlson 11). Assists – H 10 (Johnson 4), B 6 (Mohs 2). Steals – H 4 (Johnson 3), B 6 (Meyer, Carlson 2). Blocks – H 5 (Zorr 4), B 1 (Holm 1). Turnovers – H 16, B 9. Total fouls – H 22, B 20. Fouled out – Clayton.
Championship
• Sioux Falls O’Gorman 69, Aberdeen Central 57
JP Costello posted a double-double and the top-seeded Knights (22-3) took control in the third quarter to win their sixth title in the past 12 years, but first since completing a three-peat in 2012.
Costello went 7-of-12 from the field and 13-of-18 at the free-throw line for 27 points while also registering 27 rebounds.
Matt Cartwright added 17 points and Joey Messler 13.
The Golden Eagles were up 15-12 after a quarter and 33-29 at halftime.
O’Gorman outscored Aberdeen Central 20-7 in the third quarter, with Costello scoring eight of his team’s points, to move ahead 49-40.
Aberdeen Central never got closer than seven points in the fourth.
For the seventh-seeded Golden Eagles (12-14), Cole Bergan finished with 21 points and eight rebounds.
Christian Goetz contributed 13 points, 10 boards and four assists.
SIOUX FALLS O’GORMAN 69, ABERDEEN CENTRAL 57
Aberdeen Central (12-14)
Nate Rook 1-3 0-0 2, Collin Stoebner 1-3 0-0 2, Jonah Dohrer 2-11 0-2 4, Brandon Kusler 1-3 0-0 3, Cole Bergan 8-18 2-2 21, Christian Goetz 6-8 0-0 13, Cannon Hannigan 2-4 3-4 9, Drew Geier 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Bergan 1-4 0-0 3. Totals 22-54 5-8 57.
Sioux Falls O’Gorman (22-3)
Louis Peterson 2-4 2-2 6, Joey Messler 4-8 4-4 13, Matt Cartwright 6-18 0-0 14, Carter Kosiak 1-4 1-1 3, JP Costello 7-12 13-18 27, Michael Statz 0-0 0-1 0, Isaac Struck 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Hayes 0-0 0-0 0, Akoi Akoi 0-0 0-0 0, Jaron Zwagerman 3-8 0-0 6. Totals 23-54 20-26 69.
Aberdeen Central 15 18 7 17 – 57
S.F. O’Gorman 12 17 20 20 – 69
3-point goals – AC 8-18 (C. Bergan 3-6, Hannigan 2-4, Kusler 1-1, Goetz 1-1, A. Bergan 1-4, Kusler 0-2), SFO 3-8 (Cartwright 2-7, Messler 1-1). Rebounds – AC 33 (Goetz 10), SFO 36 (Costello 10). Assists – AC 16 (Goetz 4), SFO 11 (Peterson 6). Steals – AC 3 (Rook, Goetz, Hannigan 1), SFO 8 (Peterson, Cartwright, Costello 2). Blocks – AC 4 (Goetz 2), SFO 6 (Costello 3). Turnovers – AC 13, SFO 7. Total fouls – AC 24, SFO 14. Fouled out – none.
Third place
• Sioux Falls Lincoln 67, Pierre 31
The Patriots shot 45.6 percent (26-of-57) from the field and limited the Governors to 25.6 percent (11-of-43) en route to the lopsided win.
Lincoln (13-11) led 13-6 after a quarter, 25-14 at halftime and 46-20 through three.
Christophe Bwanya led the way with 15 points and Simon Higgason had 13. Diang Gatluak (10 rebounds), Alex Glanzer and Andrew Tverberg added eight points apiece.
Pierre (13-12) got 11 points from Peyton Zabel.
Fifth place
• Rapid City Stevens 62, Huron 48
Mason Archambault dropped in 22 points and the Raiders shot 51.2 percent (22-of-43) from the floor in the victory.
Stevens (18-6) was ahead 22-16 after a quarter, 36-28 at halftime and 52-40 through three.
Jacob Martin added 11 points and four assists.
For Huron (18-8), Hylan Heinz had 17 points and Tye Evers 12 to go with seven boards.
