BROOKINGS – Tenacious.
That described the no-holds-barred Eastern South Dakota Conference battle between the Bobcats and Huron on Tuesday at Bob Jostad Gymnasium in which the Tigers came out on top, 52-48.
“That’s what you expect when you play Huron – you know that you’re going to get their best defensive effort – and it was definitely something that came out,” said Brookings head coach Travis Engebretson. “We scored what I kind of figured we would score – defensively, (we) gave up too many offensive rebounds; too many open shots down the stretch.”
Early on, it looked as if it was going to be a rout as Huron took a 12-2 midway through the first quarter but the Bobcats went on an 11-2 run to trail 15-13 after 8 minutes.
The Tigers built their lead back up to eight points – 25-17 – with 3:23 to play in the second quarter on the way to a 28-22 advantage at halftime.
Isaac Carr’s offensive-rebound basket with 3:12 left in the third quarter gave Huron a 37-28 edge before the Bobcats closed the frame on a 9-0 run to tie it at 37-37 heading into the fourth.
Drew Cole’s 3-pointer with 5:54 on the clock broke the tie as the ‘Cats built a 46-39 lead as Trevor Woodall’s basket in the lane capped a 7-2 run with 3:21 to play.
Carr was fouled on another putback attempt and knocked down both free throws to pull the Tigers within five before Teegan Evers converted an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 46-44 at the 1:43 mark.
Brookings missed the front end of a bonus chance and Evers drained a 25-footer from the wing to give the Tigers a 47-46 lead, and then Jett McGirr went coast-to-coast after a steal for a 49-46 advantage with 52 seconds to play.
After Cole was whistled for a player-control foul on the Bobcats’ next possession, Nolan Wiegel ran a fly pattern on the inbounds play and scored on a layup to make it a two-possession game – 51-46 – with 26 seconds left.
Riley Schafer scored in the lane to cut the Huron lead to 51-48 before Kobe Busch went 1-of-2 from the foul line for the final margin.
Cole scored a game-high 22 points, to go along with seven rebounds. Schafer chipped in with 11 points and a pair of assists as Woodall contributed eight points and Josh Sell added seven points, nine boards and three takeaways.
Evers led the Tigers with 17 points while Busch finished with 13. Tanner Evers added eight points, a game-high 11 rebounds and three assists as Huron improved to 4-8 on the season and 4-6 in the ESD.
Huron heads to Yankton on Friday while the Bobcats, 2-8 and 2-6 ESD, travel to Watertown on Saturday.
HURON 52, BROOKINGS 48
Huron (4-8, 4-6 ESD)
Tanner Evers 4-15 0-0 8, Jett McGirr 2-3 0-1 4, Teegan Evers 7-13 1-1 17, Kobe Busch 4-20 1-2 13, Isaac Carr 2-5 2-2 6, Nolan Wiegel 2-2 0-0 4, Sean Flanery 0-0 0-0 0, Dawson Diede 0-1 0-3 0, Alex Hill 0-1 0-0 0, Cooper Fryberger 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-60 4-9 52.
Brookings (2-8, 2-7 ESD)
Seth Swedlund 0-3 0-1 0, Drew Cole 7-12 5-5 22, Riley Schafer 4-8 2-2 11, Trevor Woodall 3-5 2-2 8, Josh Sell 3-12 0-0 7, Trent Broksieck 0-2 0-1 0, Jacob Engen 0-1 0-0 0, Parker Beers 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan McMacken 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-44 9-11 48.
Huron 15 13 9 15 – 52
Brookings 13 9 15 11 – 48
3-point goals – H 6-23 (Ta. Evers 0-3, Te. Evers 2-5, Busch 4-14, Carr 0-1); B 5-16 (Cole 3-6, Schafer 1-2, Woodall 0-2, Sell 1-4, Broksieck 0-1, Engen 0-1). Rebounds – H 39 (Ta. Evers 11); B 33 (Sell 9). Assists – H 10 (Ta. Evers 3); B 4 (Schafer 2). Steals – H 9 (Te. Evers 2, Carr 2); B 5 (Sell 3). Blocks – B 2 (Cole, Sell). Turnovers – H 11; B 16. Total fouls – H 15; B 11. Fouled out – None.
