Celebrating their four seniors, the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys basketball team ended their regular season with a big win over the Centerville Tornadoes 82-32 on Friday, February 28th.
The Tornadoes kept it close through the majority of the first quarter. Centerville trailed by just three points at 10-7 with 2:15 to play in the quarter, but that’s when the Cardinals exploded. St Mary scored twenty straight points. They led 28-7 at the end of the first quarter, and then scored the next two points of the second quarter before Centerville was able to get another basket. The Cardinals pushed the lead to 52-13 by halftime. St Mary then outscored Centerville 30-19 in the second half as the cruised to the victory.
St Mary shot 45% (34-76) from the field, 34% (10-29) from the three-point area, and 67% (4-6) from the free-throw line. The Cardinals had 39 team rebounds and 20 team steals.
Four players finished in double figures. Weston Geraets had 25 points, nine rebounds, and five steals. Connor Libis had 17 points, four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Sam Palmer had 12 points and two rebounds. Max Herber added 10 points and six rebounds.
Geraets, Cole Welbig, Eli Longville, and Ryan Eining are this year’s seniors that were recognized prior to the game.
St Mary finishes the regular season with a record of 15-5. They will play in the second round of the Region 4B Tournament at home on Tuesday, March 3rd. The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.