After falling to the Tea Area Titans in the opening round of the State A Tournament, the Dell Rapids Quarriers bounced back with a victory over the Hot Springs Bison on Friday, March 15th. Dell Rapids defeated the Bison 47-37.
There were three ties in the game, but the Quarriers never trailed on their way to the win. Dell Rapids built an early 10-6 lead after the first quarter, but Hot Springs trimmed the lead to three at 27-24 by halftime. The offenses for both teams struggled in the second half. Dell Rapids pushed their lead to 36-29 heading into the fourth quarter. The Quarriers then outscored the Bison 11-8 in the final quarter.
Dell Rapids finished the game shooting 28% (13-46) from the field, 17% (2-12) from the three-point area, and 76% (19-25) from the free-throw line. Hot Springs shot 30% (13-43) from the field, 22% (4-18) from three-point area, and 54% (7-13) from the free-throw line.
Drew Van Regenmorter led Dell Rapids with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Logan Heim also had 13 points along with six rebounds. Colin Rentz and Coby Maeschen both had seven points in the game.
In their final game of the season, the Quarriers fell to the St Thomas More Cavaliers in a hard-fought, close battle. St Thomas More survived a last second shot from Dell Rapids for a 71-69 victory.
The Cavaliers held the lead after the first quarter at 16-11, but Dell Rapids stormed ahead early in the second quarter. The Quarriers held a one-point lead with 4:59 to play in the first half, but the Cavaliers led 29-23 at halftime. St Thomas More was able to grow the lead in the third quarter and led 51-40 heading into the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers got their largest lead of the game at 12 points with 2:27 to play. Dell Rapids held the Cavaliers scoreless the remainder of the quarter while mounting a late-game comeback, but a last second, three-point shot fell away no good for Dell Rapids.
The Quarriers finished the game shooting 52% (25-48) from the field, 47% (9-19) from three-point area, but only 50% (10-20) from the free-throw line. St Thomas More was 47% (25-53) from the field, 39% (7-19) from three-point area, and 78% (14-18) from the free-throw line.
Colin Rentz had a game-high 28 points and eight rebounds. Logan Heim had 11 points and nine rebounds. Connor Rentz and Logan Ellingson also both had 11 points each.
Dell Rapids finishes their 2018-2019 season with a 6th place finish at the State A Tournament and a 15-9 overall record.