STURGIS / BELLE FOURCHE, SD – The Sturgis Scooper girls traveled to Belle Fourche and lost to the Lady Broncs, 43-34 on Tuesday night. The Scooper boys hosted the St. Thomas More Cavaliers and dropped a close one at West Gym, 43-40.
The Scooper made two out of 11 shots in the first quarter and trailed the Cavaliers 11-4 headed in the second, but Sturgis finished the first half on an 8-0 run to cut into the St. Thomas More lead. The Cavs led the Scoopers 22-19 at intermission.
Both teams came out cold in the third quarter and the Cavaliers held on to their three point advantage headed into the fourth, 29-26, and extended their lead to 39-30 midway through the fourth when Wyatt Gylten got hot, canning two three pointers. Scooper forward Teigen Wormstadt kept Sturgis close on three quick field goals and the score was STM 41, Sturgis 37 with just :28 left.
Sturgis was forced to foul and put Gylten on the line with :22 seconds left. Gylten drained both charity tosses to give the Cavaliers a 43-37 lead. On the next possession, Scooper guard Ty Ferguson shot a three that fell short, but the loose ball fell into Hayden Rock’s hands and he hit a three pointer with just :08 seconds left, bringing Sturgis within three points, 43-40. Sturgis called time out to set up a defensive play. St. Thomas More threw the ball in-bounds under the Scooper basket and the ball was stolen by Jaxon Cano, who passed the ball to Rock. Rock shot a quick three, hoping to tie the game at 43, but the shot was blocked and STM dribbled the ball down court as the clock expired, securing the Cavalier win.
Sturgis was led by Rock with 14 points. Ryan Heinert added 13 points and four rebounds. The Scoopers made 16-of-54 field goals (29%), 3-of-4 free throws (75%), committed five turnovers and snared 24 rebounds. Sturgis falls to 5-8 on the season.
Gylten was the Cavaliers leading scorer, with 16 points and three three pointers in the game. STM made 14-of-50 shots (28%), was 11-of-20 from the stripe (55%), made nine turnovers and won the rebounding battle with 36. The Cavs improve to 12-3 on the year.
No statistics were available for the Scooper girls game.
Sturgis travels to Mitchell to take on the Kernels on Friday night, then head to Huron on Saturday to battle with the Tigers.
