In a game that saw the Flandreau Flyers make more three-point shots than two-point shots, the Dell Rapids Quarriers held off the Flyers at the Entringer Classic in Brookings 60-57 for their fourth win of the season.  Dell Rapids jumped out to a 17-8 lead after the first quarter, but the Flyers started to heat up beyond the three-point line to cut the Quarrier lead down to 29-26 at halftime.  The Flyers took the lead on a last second shot at the end of the third quarter, 39-38.  But Dell Rapids was able to hold off the Flyers in the final quarter for the win.

The Quarriers shot 62% (24-39) from the field, 46% (6-13) from three-point area, and 75% (6-8) from the free throw line.  Flandreau shot 37% (17-46) from the field, 40% (11-27) from three-point area, and 100% (12-12) from the free throw line.  Cole Langer led the Quarriers with 22 points and seven assists.  Langer was named the game’s MVP.  Bryce Koch had 12 points, nine rebounds, and five blocked shots.  Spencer Kerzman added eight points.  Flandreau was led by Geno Bursheim with 16 points and Mitchell Foster with 15 points.

Head Coach Jason Fersdahl said, “The classic was a great atmosphere and drew a large crowd; it is always fun to be a part of it year after year.  We were able to use our size advantage to get the ball inside to get high percentage shots throughout the game. We shot 18-26 from inside the 3 point arc and ended shooting 62% total for the game. I was happy to see us start off the game strong once again, as we jumped out to a 17-8 lead after one quarter. Flandreau started to get hot from the outside, like we knew they were capable of, in the second quarter and they were able to hit some tough, contested shots throughout the rest of the game. As a team we showed a good deal of mental toughness in the fourth quarter by working to get great shots inside and convert free throw opportunities down the stretch. Flandreau is a tough team to match up with given their quickness and shooting ability and they will win a lot of games thoughout the season, so this was a great win for the Quarriers.”

The Quarriers are now 4-1 on the year.  They will take on Sioux Falls Christian in the first round of the Big Sioux Conference Tournament in Sioux Falls on Thursday, January 3rd.

Highlights

The Dell Rapids Quarriers got back in the winning column by beating the Elk Point-Jefferson Huskies 58-44 on Friday, December 21st, in Dell Rapids.  The Quarriers led the entire game as they jumped out to an 11-4 lead after the first quarter.  Dell Rapids extended the lead to 10 by halftime at 25-15.  Dell Rapids led 40-28 after the third quarter as well.

Bryce Kock led the team with 16 points in the game.  Cole Langer and Matt Kolbeck each had 10 points apiece, while Spencer Kerzman added eight points.  Langer had 11 rebounds for Dell Rapids and Koch had nine.  Langer also had six assists.  Koch had five more blocks in the game.  Elk Point-Jefferson was led by Blake Donnelly who had 15 points, and Brock Zeller had 10 points.

The Quarriers also had the advantage in many team statistical categories.  The Quarriers out-rebounded the Huskies 38-28.  Dell Rapids also had 18 assists as a team.  The Quarriers were 14-20 from the free throw line, 4-15 from 3-point range and shot 20-40 from the field in the game.

Head Coach Jason Fersdahl said, “The team played great defense against a tall, strong EPJ team, limiting them to 4 first quarter points and holding their returning all-state player, Brock Zeller, to 11 points. Matt Kolbeck played outstanding defense the entire game on Zeller and the team did a great job of playing help side defense against him. We outrebounded the Huskies 38-28 for the game and we were able to get to the free throw line more consistently. Offensively we had great balance with four players with 8 or more points and we did a better job of getting the ball inside to our post players. Defensively, we must continue to get better at fighting through screens and communicating on screens. It was important to go into the Christmas break on a winning note; we have a string of very tough games coming up and we will work to keep getting better on both ends of the floor.”

The Quarriers improve to 3-1 on the year and 2-1 in the Big Sioux Conference.  Dell Rapids will play Flandreau at the Entringer Classic in Brookings on Saturday, December 29th, in their next game.  The game will be webcast on Big Sioux Media.

The Tea Area Titans used a big fourth quarter run to defeat the Dell Rapids Quarriers 57-36 Friday, December 14th, in Tea.  The game was close for the first three quarters.  The Titans had an 11-10 lead after the first quarter and a 23-21 lead at halftime.  The game was tied at 29-29 with 1:00 left in the third quarter before Tea ended the quarter with a 6-1 run to take a 35-30 lead into the fourth quarter.  Tea opened up with a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 12, and cruised from there on their way to the win.

Dell Rapids was led by Bryce Koch with 13 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocked shots on the night.  Zach White added eight points for the Quarriers.  Connor Shaull had 12 points for Tea, and Riley Knutson

had 11 points.  The Quarriers had a tough night offensively as a team, shooting just 30% (14-64) from the field, and just 12% (2-17) from 3-point area.  The Titans also held quite an advantage from the free throw line.  Dell Rapids was 4-10, while Tea was 20-25 from the charity stripe.  The Quarriers also commited 18 turnovers in the game, while Tea committed just 10.

Head Coach Jason Fersdahl said, “We ran into a tough, experienced Tea Area team that played excellent defense the entire night.  We knew going in that Tea would play great defense, but they were really able to take us out of what we wanted to do with their speed, strength, and athleticism.  We struggled the whole night putting the ball in the basket and we gave Tea some easy scoring opportunities in the 4th quarter with turnovers which lead to transition opportunities.  Our keys going into the game were to outrebound them (which we did) and stop them in transition, which we struggled with all night.”

Dell Rapids falls to 2-1 on the season, and 1-1 in the Big Sioux Conference.  The Quarriers will host Elk Point-Jefferson on Tuesday, December 21st.

Highlights:

The Dell Rapids Quarrier boy’s basketball team defeated the Beresford Watchdogs on Tuesday, December 11th, 87-36.  The Quarriers held a 47-16 lead at halftime.  Leading scorers on the night for the Quarriers were Zach White with 14 points, Jacob Morris with 12 points, Cole Langer and Ty Hoglund with 10 points apiece, Spencer Kerzman with nine points, Bryce Koch and Matt Kolbeck with eight points apiece, and Zane Schumaker with seven points.  Morris was perfect from 3-point range, hitting on all four of his attempts.  Dell Rapids was impressive from the field shooting 56% from 3-point range as a team and 55% from the field.  The Quarriers also had 28 assists as a team, led by Kolbek, Schumaker, and Riley Schmidt with four assists each.

Koch led the team in rebounds with nine in the game.  Langer had eight rebounds for Dell Rapids, as the Quarriers out-rebounded Beresford 40-36 in the game.  Dell Rapids also forced 14 turnovers.  Langer had five steals in the game, and Schumaker added four.

The win moves Dell Rapids to 2-0 on the season, and 1-0 in the Big Sioux Conference.

Head Coach Jason Fersdahl said, “Defeating Beresford was key to get off to a good start in conference play.  I was pleased with the defensive intensity our players brought against Beresford.  Beresford came out and hit some shots early to force a tie at 11, but our players responded by playing even harder on defense and we held Beresford scoreless for about a six minute stretch in the first and second quarter.  We were much better at converting turnovers into points and we were able to knock down some shots from the outside.  We shot the ball well from the perimeter and that really helped open some things up inside.  Once again, we had major contributions from players off the bench and our scoring was very balanced with eight players scoring seven or more points.  The team did a great job of sharing the basketball as we ended the night with 28 assists as a team!”

The Quarriers will travel to Tea to take on the Titans on Friday, December 14th.  Both the girls and boys games will be webcasted on Big Sioux Media starting at 6:15 p.m.

Freshman Results:
The Freshman team had another great game as they defeated Beresford 35-18.  For the second game in a row, the freshman team had eight of nine players in the scoring column.  Sam White led the team with 10 points and Cordell Wright added eight points.  The freshman improve to 2-0 on the year and will play Tea also on Friday, December 14th.