STURGIS, S.D. — The Spearfish Spartan boys basketball team completed a season sweep of the Sturgis Scoopers on Tuesday night, winning a tight game at West Gymnasium, 52-46.
The Spartans previously defeated the Scoopers on Jan. 19 in Spearfish, 69-41. Their second meeting went down to the final minute.
Spearfish guard Teysean Eaglestaff and forward Tony Serrano both drained three-pointers to open up the game for the Spartans, who jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead early in the first. The Scoopers tightened up defensively and got buckets from Owen Cass, Konner Berndt and Dysen Peterson to close the gap, but Spearfish took an 11-7 lead in to the second quarter.
The Spartans outscored the Scoopers 11-10 in the second to take a 22-17 lead into the locker room at the half. Cass scored six points in the quarter for Sturgis and made all four of his charity tosses. The Scooper defense held Spearfish standout Peyton Millis to just seven points in the first half.
“Tyan (Buus) and Ridge (Inhofer) did a really good job on Millis,” said Scooper head coach Derris Buus. “All of our guys did a good job defensively, executing our defensive game plan. We lost track of a couple of their shooters throughout the game, and Serrano had a couple of three’s on us but that’s part of learning. Our guys have to learn that everybody out here in AA can shoot the basketball so you have to guard everyone.”
The third quarter was a back and forth, see-saw affair. The Scoopers got within a point several times throughout the stanza and outscored the Spartans 13-11 in the quarter to cut the Spearfish lead. The Spartans led 33-30 after three quarters. Every time the Scoopers had a run, the Spartans would answer with timely shots.
Sturgis led for the first time midway through the fourth quarter, 40-38, but the Spartans scored five quick points to lead 43-40. Cass was perfect again from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, canning six of six shots to keep the Scoopers within striking distance. But a 25-foot, back breaking three pointer by Spartan sophomore Carter Lyon gave Spearfish a 50-44 lead with just over a minute left. The Spartans held on for a 52-46 victory.
“I thought late in the game we took a couple of quick threes when we should have controlled the tempo like we had all game,” Buus said. “We’ve got to do a better job of choosing our shots, and that’s on me. I probably should have called time out and gave the boys an opportunity to run something, to give them a better look. I was proud of the way we battled, our defense played well, but we just couldn’t close the game out.”
Owen Cass led the Scoopers (2-15) with 16 points. Cass was a perfect 10 for 10 from the free throw line. Peterson added eight points, with Berndt chipping in six. Sturgis shot 28% from the field and 70% from the free throw line. The Scoopers had 17 turnovers and 22 rebounds, seven offensive.
Sophomore Tony Serrano was the leading scorer for the Spartans (7-10), with 15 points, including three three-pointers. Millis scored eight points and snared five rebounds. Spearfish shot 30% from the field and 45% from the charity stripe, with 12 turnovers and 29 rebounds.
The Scooper boys are in action again on Friday night, as they travel to Hot Springs to take on the Bison. KBHB will have all the action at 810 AM, 105.5 FM or KBHBRadio.com, with the girls game scheduled to tip off at 6pm. The girls host the Douglas Patriots on Thursday at West Gym, with tip off scheduled for 7pm.
