VOLGA – The Cossacks like to play fast.

And Sioux Valley did plenty of running – and scoring – Monday night during an 88-71 defeat of Parker during Big East Conference boys’ basketball action in the Cossack Center.

The Cossacks led 29-24 after a quarter and 48-43 at halftime before taking control in the third period.

“I thought that we got the pace where we wanted it,” said Sioux Valley coach Bill Vincent. “Even though we had given up a lot of first-quarter points, the pace was where we thought we needed it to be. And then we were a little flat in the second quarter; I think we exhausted ourselves, as well. But we closed decent and went into halftime with the lead and then in the third quarter we thought that we got to their legs and things went our way.

“That’s a good team over there with a really good big inside (Camden Bialas) and the way (Trey) Christensen and (Alex) Kasten can shoot the ball; I’m sure they’ll be hungry and want another shot at us in the Big East (Tournament) or down the road in the postseason.

“That’s a top-five team in South Dakota this year and we were fortunate enough to beat them.”

Max Nielson scored 19 of his game-high 26 points in the first half while leading four Cossacks in double figures. He also dished out seven assists and came up with seven of his team’s 19 steals.

Noah Puetz had 13 points and Trent Hiltunen and Ryan Schuster added 12 apiece.

In addition to speeding up the game, Sioux Valley’s full-court pressure appeared to bother the Pheasants at times – they finished with 26 turnovers, eight of which came in the third.

Ahead by a point, six different Cossacks – Schuster (four points), Oliver Vincent, Noah Puetz, Parker Puetz, Nielson (3-pointer) and Lane VanderWal – scored during a 16-2 run that put the home team ahead 64-49 at the 3:03 mark of the third.

Sioux Valley was up 72-57 heading to the fourth. The advantage peaked at 23 points – 84-61 – with 4 1/2 minutes remaining.

VanderWal contributed eight points, Oliver Vincent seven and Kelton Vincent six.

Parker shot 61.5 percent (32-of-52) from the field.

Bialas, a 6-foot-9 post, had 22 points on 11-of-13 shooting in 23 1/2 minutes of action.

Christensen totaled 13 points and eight rebounds, while Kasten added 12 points and six boards.

The Pheasants dropped to 2-1 (2-1 BEC).

Sioux Valley (2-1, 2-0) plays host to Beresford in the back end of a doubleheader Thursday at 8 p.m.

SIOUX VALLEY 88, PARKER 71

Parker (2-1, 2-1 BEC)

Jaron Pesicka 2-2 0-0 4, Blake Olson 2-2 0-0 4, Trey Christensen 6-12 0-0 13, Camden Bialas 11-13 0-0 22, Jackson Fiegen 1-2 0-0 2, Alex Kasten 4-8 0-0 12, Reece Peters 0-2 0-0 0, Sam Gillespie 2-4 2-2 6, Carter Robertson 0-1 0-0 0, Joe Joffer 3-5 0-0 6, Dallas Popkes 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 32-52 2-4 71.

Sioux Valley (2-1, 2-0 BEC)

Noah Puetz 5-7 0-0 13, Trent Hiltunen 4-9 0-0 12, Tyge Schiller 1-5 0-0 2, Max Nielson 11-17 0-0 26, Ryan Schuster 6-8 0-0 12, Parker Puetz 1-4 0-0 2, Lane VanderWal 3-6 2-2 8, Kelton Vincent 3-5 0-0 6, Jaxton Schiller 0-0 0-0 0, Oliver Vincent 2-5 2-2 7, Logan Steffensen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-66 4-4 88.

Parker 24  19  14  14  –  71

Sioux Valley 29  19  24  16  –  88

3-point goals – P 5-16 (Kasten 4-6, Christensen 1-7, Peters 0-1, Gillespie 0-1, Robertson 0-1), SV 12-31 (Nielson 4-8, Hiltunen 4-9, N. Puetz 3-4, O. Vincent 1-2, P. Puetz 0-1, VanderWal 0-1, K. Vincent 0-1, Schuster 0-2, T. Schiller 0-3). Rebounds – P 30 (Christensen 8), SV 19 (Schuster, K. Vincent 4). Assists – P 15 (Fiegen 7), SV 20 (Nielson 7). Steals – P 3 (Christensen, Fiegen, Peters 1), SV 19 (Nielson 7). Blocks – P 2 (Bialas 2), SV 1 (K. Vincent 1). Turnovers – P 26, SV 9. Total fouls – P 11, SV 10. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.