The Dell Rapids Quarriers rallied from a nine-point fourth quarter deficit to beat the Madison Bulldogs 58-57 in Madison on Thursday, January 19th.
The Quarriers trailed through most of the game. Madison held a 16-11 lead after the end of the first quarter. Dell Rapids was able to trim the lead to 28-24 by halftime. Both teams scored 15 points in the third quarter, and the Bulldogs led 43-39 at the end of the quarter.
Madison pushed their lead to nine points after a 5-0 run in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. However, with 5:54 to go in the game, the Quarrier run started. The Quarriers went on a 12-0 run over the next 2:20 with points by Austin Ellingson, Sheldon Siemonsma, Mason Peter and Tanner Heim to take a 51-48 lead with 3:38 to go.
The Bulldogs stopped the run with two free throws with 3:01 to go to cut the Quarrier lead to 51-50. The Bulldogs then regained the lead after a bucket with 1:28 to go. Jeffrey Schuch put Dell Rapids back in front at 53-52 with 1:12 to go after two made free throws. Again the lead went back to Madison with :58 after two made free throws, but Siemonsma hit a three point shot from the win with :45 to go to put the Quarriers back in front 56-54. The Bulldogs were called for an offensive foul with :17 left to turn the ball over to Dell Rapids. Peter was fouled with :14.6 on the clock and promptly made both free throws to put Dell Rapids ahead 58-54. Josh Giles hit a three point shot with :08.1 to cut the lead to 58-57. Dell Rapids turned the ball over on the in-bounds pass trying to baseball pass to their end of the court. However, the defense kept Madison from getting a last second shot to hold on for the win.
Dell Rapids finished the game shooting 22-50 (44%) from the field, 3-17 (18%) from three-point area, and 11-14 (79%) from the free-throw line. The Quarriers had a total of 29 rebounds, 14 assists, and turned the ball over just eight times.
Four players finished in double figures for Dell Rapids. Schuch led the team with 13 points and nine rebounds. Heim tallied 12 points and six rebounds. Peter finished with 12 points and three steals. Mason Schmidt added 11 points. Austin Ellingson dished out five assists in the game.
Dell Rapids (7-2) will host Elk Point-Jefferson as part of a double header with the girls on Saturday, January 21st. Both games can be seen on Big Sioux Media.