The Dell Rapids Quarriers and Milbank Bulldogs played an exciting boys basketball game on Saturday, December 13th. The fans got their money’s worth on the afternoon as the Bulldogs earned the 74-72 double overtime win.
The Quarriers opened the game on a 7-2 run. Milbank would respond with a 7-2 run of their own to tie the game 9-9. Dell Rapids would the first quarter with a 16-13 advantage. Milbank scored the first four points of the second quarter to take a 17-16 lead, but the Quarriers got their offensive groove going. They would build a 33-24 lead late, but Milbank hit a three-point shot at the buzzer to cut the lead to 33-27 going into halftime.
The Bulldogs would carry that momentum into the third quarter. They were able to tie the score 34-34 with about 4:30 left in the third. The two teams traded baskets throughout the rest of the quarter. Camden Jones would make a put-back shot at the buzzer to tie the game 44-44 going into the fourth quarter. Neither team was able to get much of an advantage in the fourth quarter. Dell Rapids did take a 51-48 lead with just under 2:00 to play. They still led by three, 53-50, with about :30 to go, but a made three-point shot tied the game 53-53. Dell Rapids was unable to make the final shot of regulation, and the game went to overtime.
Milbank was able to get the first significant advantage of overtime at 60-56 with 1:38 left. They were able to push that lead to 61-56 with 1:00 to play. Dell Rapids would make four free throws in a span of :20 and cut the lead to 61-60 with :40 left. The Quarriers would then steal an inbound pass and make another free throw to tie the game 61-61. On the next Milbank possession, Karsen Paye got a long rebound at the top of the key and raced down the court for a layup to give Dell Rapids a 63-61 lead with :06 to go. The Bulldogs responded with a last second layup at the buzzer to tie the game 63-63 to force a second overtime.
The Bulldogs took a 67-65 lead and continued to lead 69-67 with 2:00 to go. Dell Rapids got within a point, 70-69, on a spinning lay-in by Paye with about a minute to go. The Quarriers had multiple chances to take the lead from the free-throw line with under :30 to play, but they missed four in a row opening the door for Milbank to extend their lead to 73-69. The Quarriers hit a late three-point shot before Milbank added one more free throw to make the score 74-72 with :03. A last second shot from half court was no good by Dell Rapids.
Paye finished with 22 points. Jones had 15 points in the game. Jackson Peppel added 14 points, and Jace Brende had seven points.
