The De Smet Bulldogs bid for a fourth straight State B title fell short against the Howard Tigers on Saturday, March 16th in Aberdeen. The Tigers held off the Bulldogs for a 60-55 overtime win.
Howard built a five-point lead, 11-6, with just under three minutes to play in the opening quarter. De Smet cut the lead to 13-11 by the end of the quarter. The Bulldogs took a three-point lead, 20-17, with 5:00 to go in the opening half. The game was tied 22-22 before Howard scored the final two points of the quarter for a 24-22 halftime lead.
Each team had a good lead in the quarter. De Smet held a 33-28 lead after a three-point basket by Trace Van Regenmorter with 4:19 to go. Howard went on an 11-0 run for a 39-33 lead with 2:00 to go. De Smet scored the final two points of the third quarter, and the Tigers led 39-35 going into the fourth quarter. Howard scored the first three points of the fourth quarter for a 42-35 lead. The Bulldogs responded with a 11-4 run to tie the game 46-46 with 4:30 to play. The two teams traded points and were tied 50-50 with :52 remaining. Luke Koepsell gave Howard a 52-50 lead with :01.2 to go after a finger roll in the lane. The Bulldogs called a timeout to set up one last effort to tie the game.
Britt Carlson threw an overhead pass three quarters of the court to George Jensen who was between two Howard players. Jensen caught the pass on the left elbow of the free-throw line, spun to his right, and fired a shot right before the buzzer sounded. The ball hit off the backboard, off the front of the rim, spur around the rim, and then fell through the hoop to tie the game 52-52.
The Tigers scored first with two free throws for a 54-52 advantage at the 2:25 mark of overtime. Carlson gave the Bulldogs a 55-54 lead with a made three-point shot from the left corner with 1:17 to go in the game. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, those were their final points. Howard finished the game scoring the final six points for the 60-55 win.
Kadyn Fast had 18 points and three assists. Carlson added 11 points and five erbounds. Van Regenmorter finished with 11 points and three rebounds. Tom Aughenbaugh had seven points. Jensen ended with six points. Grant Wilkinson had two points and three rebounds.
