BROOKINS – The District 1AA opening-round matchup at Bob Jostad Gymnasium between the Bobcats and Arrows was the rubber game between the two teams as each team won pretty easily on the other’s home court during the regular season.
But Tuesday’s game turned into the expected battle, with Brookings coming out on top, 49-44, to advance to the 1AA title game against Sioux Falls O’Gorman.
“You knew tonight was going to be the slugfest of two great basketball teams coming out, playing hard, just laying it all on the line, back-and-forth,” said Bobcat head coach Travis Engebretson. “Give Watertown credit – we got it up to eight and maybe had a chance to get it up to 10 – and they kept plugging away, plugging away and then our kids showed some resiliency when Watertown took the lead and we battled back and got a couple of baskets.”
Alex Gauer’s floating jumper in the lane gave the Arrows a 41-40 lead with 3:02 to play, which led to a Brookings timeout.
Brennan Carlson scored in the lane and then converted on the old-fashioned three-point play to put the Bobcats back on top, 43-41.
After trading turnovers, Gauer’s 3-point attempt hit the front of the rim and Carter Holm pulled down the rebound for the ‘Cats.
Josh Mohs drew iron on a 3 to beat the shot clock, but Devin Coughlin got a hand on the high carom; Drew Cole got the rebound and was fouled on the putback try with 58 seconds left.
The sophomore drained both free throws for a 45-41 Brookings lead, but Colton McClemans knocked down his fourth 3-pointer of the night on the Arrows’ next possession to make it 45-44 with 49 seconds on the clock.
Cole’s baseline jumper missed, but Coughlin gathered in the rebound and scored with 9 seconds left to put the ‘Cats back up by three points, 47-44.
Watertown hustled the ball past half court and called a timeout, but the set play out of the timeout saw another Gauer 3-point attempt off the mark; Josh Mohs grabbed the rebound; was fouled and converted both free throws for the final margin, 49-44.
The first 8 minutes saw two ties and five lead changes as Brookings led 12-10.
The ‘Cats kept the lead throughout the second with Carlson’s turnaround jumper in the lane giving Brookings a 23-19 advantage heading into halftime.
Time and again in the first half, both teams had to take shots to beat the buzzer as Watertown finished 7-of-18 from the floor (39 percent) and Brookings went 9-of-19 (47 percent).
“That comes down to film –no surprises, you know all of the set plays – we’re running set plays down there, Coach Norberg is yelling out what we’re doing – so just no surprises,” Engebretson said. “Each team knows personnel-wise that this guy can go left; that this guy’s going to shoot it – it was just one of those games where you knew it was going to come down to a bounce here or a bounce there.”
Carter Holm opened the second half with a basket, and then, Coughlin converted an offensive rebound to push the Bobcats’ lead to eight before Spencer Waege scored down low to make it 27-21.
With 3:39 left in the third, Carlson went 1-of-2 from the line to give Brookings its largest lead of the game at 32-23, but McClemans responded with three free throws and a 3-pointer over the next 1:20 to pull the Arrows back within three, 32-29.
The ‘Cats went back up by five, 36-31, on a Cole trey, before Brent Schulte beat the clock with a basket in the lane to make it 36-33 through three.
Gauer and Waege sandwiched baskets around a Holm bucket to open the fourth before Mohs hit a jumper to make it 40-37 with 5:33 to play.
Waege converted a pair of free throws before Gauer’s jumper gave the Arrows the one-point lead at the 3:02 mark.
Carlson scored 11 points and pulled down six rebounds while Mohs also netted 11 points to lead the Bobcats, who improved to 18-3. Couglin finished with nine points and six boards as Holm and Cole each dropped seven markers and Jameson Meyer closed out the scoring with four.
McClemans scored a game-high 15 points as Waege added 10 for the Arrows, who dropped to 9-12, and play host to Sioux Falls Roosevelt on Friday.
The Bobcats travel to Sioux Falls on Friday to take on O’Gorman for the District 1AA title in a 7 p.m. matchup. The Knights downed the Rough Riders, 64-46, at home on Tuesday night.
“It’s a big win (against the Arrows) from the standpoint of playing for the championship on Friday,” said Engebretson. “It’s next game up – O’Gorman will be a great matchup – but as you look at it, we’ve got a couple of days to prepare and get ready for that one.”
BROOKINGS 49, WATERTOWN 44
Watertown (9-12)
Alex Gauer 3-12 0-0 7, Parker Johnston 1-2 1-2 3, Brent Schulte 3-3 0-0 6, Trey Schmidt 0-3 0-0 0, Spencer Waege 4-7 2-3 10, Colton McClemans 4-6 3-3 15, Adam Dejong 1-5 1-2 3, Max Sonne 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-38 7-10 44.
Brookings (18-3)
Josh Mohs 3-7 5-5 11, Carter Holm 3-5 1-2 7, Jameson Meyer 2-5 0-0 4, Brennan Carlson 4-7 3-5 11, Devin Coughlin 4-5 0-0 9, Sam Wilber 0-2 0-0 0, Drew Cole 1-4 4-4 7, Ryan Argust 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-36 13-16 49.
Watertown 10 9 14 11 – 44
Brookings 12 11 13 13 – 49
3-point goals – W 5-16 (Gauer 1-5, Johnston 0-1, Schmidt 0-2, McClemans 4-6, Dejong 0-2); B 2-7 (Mohs 0-2, Holm 0-1, Carlson 0-1, Coughlin 1-1, Cole 1-1, Argust 0-1). Rebounds – W 16 (Schulte 4); B 27 (Carlson 6, Coughlin 6). Assists – W 9 (Schulte 3); B 4 (Holm 3). Steals – W 5 (Schulte 2, Dejong 2, Gauer); B 4 (Mohs, Holm, Carlson, Coughlin). Blocks – B 1 (Coughlin). Turnovers – W 9; B 10. Total fouls – W 14; B 11. Fouled out – None.
