FLANDREAU – Trevor Olson kept firing and the treys kept falling.

The left-handed gunner hit a school-record nine 3-pointers – breaking his own mark set in the team’s previous game 10 days prior – while racking up 34 points as second-ranked Sioux Valley pulled away from Flandreau for an 80-57 triumph Thursday night.

“I just got into the flow, the flow of our offense,” said Olson, a junior. “I was just trying to get into space because I knew they’d be out hard on our shooters – it opened up the middle; we used the middle in the first half. And then in the second half, it opened up the 3 line because they were so worried about our inside.”

The Cossacks (13-2) improved to 6-0 in Big East Conference games and clinched at least a share of the regular-season title. They moved to 3-0 in the Lake Central Conference.

Olson scored 29 points after halftime – 12 in the third quarter and 17 in the fourth – to help Sioux Valley take control. He nailed eight long balls over the final 16 minutes, including five in the final frame.

“What a second half,” said Cossack coach Bill Vincent. “At halftime, we talked to Tayt (Vincent) and TO – hey, just relax and let the game come to you. And things opened up for them. TO got going and Tayt found himself to the line a few times.

“Those were big things, and it felt like when they weren’t hitting the shot, they were finding the open man for the layup.”

Vincent netted 12 of his 17 markers in the second half, which included a rare six-point trip.

He hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key as he was fouled. He missed the free throw, but Dalyn Bakkedahl was whistled for a lane violation and the Flier guard then received a technical foul, which resulted in his fifth foul.

Vincent took advantage of the redo, making all three foul shots to give Sioux Valley a 63-46 cushion with 6:41 remaining in the game.

Olson buried a deep 3 from the left wing with 5:50 to go and added another with 5:20 left to push the advantage to 69-48.

“We knew coming into it that it would be really tough to beat them the second time,” added Olson, whose team beat Flandreau 62-51 in the BEC Tournament final on Jan. 7 in Garretson. “They’re really a good team. We expected them to come out with a ton of energy and we were hoping to just match that. I felt like we rebounded well and finished the game.”

The visitors led 14-10 after a quarter and 29-22 at halftime.

Trevor Hanson put in 10 of his 12 points in the first half. He also grabbed 14 rebounds for the game, completing the double-double.

Forward Zack Puetz added seven of his nine points prior to the break.

“I thought, defensively, in the first half we were just really strong in our man-to-man defense,” Vincent added. “I thought we did a heck of a job that way and that bought us some time until we got the ball to fall a little bit from the perimeter. I thought Hanson was a man inside and did a lot of good things.

“I thought our guys on the floor recognized situations better than maybe we had earlier in the year; and they were going to the person that either had a good matchup or had a hot hand.”

Flandreau’s Dylan LeBrun got going in the third quarter, dropping in 11 of his 19 points. But the Fliers couldn’t make up any ground with Olson going wild on the other end.

“I thought it was a great game until a minute or two left in the third quarter,” said Flandreau coach Brendan Sheppard. “We let the Olson kid get free once or twice and he hit a couple shots and got a flow. He had (29) points in the second half, just killed us.

Max Nielson added five points and Jake Schneider three for the Cossacks. Vincent dished out seven assists and Puetz contributed seven rebounds.

For the Fliers, LeBrun added eight boards and six assists to go with the 19 points.

Bakkedahl had 17 points and seven rebounds. Xavier Pavlis, who corralled eight rebounds, and Connor LeBrun added eight points apiece and Nathan Kneebone had five.

Both teams return to action Saturday as Sioux Valley takes on Crosby-Ironton in the Sanford Pentagon Classic at 4:30 p.m. in Sioux Falls and Flandreau (12-3, 4-1 BEC/2-1 LCC) heads to Hamlin.

Notes: Flandreau is receiving votes (eighth) in the Class A poll.