Dell Rapids High School was the setting for a double overtime thriller on Friday, December 15th. The #1 ranked Tea Area Titans came away with a 68-63 win over the #4 ranked Dell Rapids Quarriers.
Both offenses got off to a slow start as Dell Rapids led 10-6 after the first quarter of play. As both teams settled into the game, the offenses found their stride. Both teams combined for 30 points in the second quarter, and the Titans led 24-22 at halftime after a buzzer-beater.
The Titans pushed their lead to four points at 42-38 by the end of the third quarter. The Quarriers went on a 7-2 run to take a 45-44 lead with just under 4:00 to play in the game. Dell Rapids pushed the lead to 50-45 with 2:30 to go, and then lead 52-48 with 1:32 on the clock. With just :20 to go in the game, Kaleb Joffer pulled down an offensive rebound and got his put-back shot to fall to tie the game at 52-52.
That’s when things got wild in Dell Rapids. Carson Rentz dribbled to the Quarrier end of the floor and found a wide open Elijah Story in the left corner. Story made the three-point shot to give Dell Rapids a 55-52 lead with :04 to go in the game. After a timeout by Tea Area, Noah Freidel drove three-quarters of the court and hit a running three-point shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 55-55 to force overtime.
Both teams scored just two points each in the first half of the first overtime. Tea Area scored to make it 59-57 with just under 2:00 to play. Neither team would score over the next minute and a half, and the Quarriers had the ball with :26 to go in the game down by two points. With :11 on the clock, Rentz hit a jumper just inside the three-point line to tie the game at 59-59. Tea Area called a timeout with :06.5 to go. After the timeout, Freidel appeared to hit the game-winning shot as time expired and the Tea Area fans erupted. However, an official saw a timeout called by Coach Jason Fersdahl after the made basket prior to the final buzzer sounding and added :01.3 to the game clock. Dell Rapids had to inbound the ball underneath the Titan basket. Elijah Story made a baseball pass to the opposite end of the court. The pass was tipped by Logan Heim to the middle of the Quarrier lane where Jeffrey Schuch laid it off the glass and in just prior to the buzzer sounding to tie the game at 61-61 to go to double overtime.
The Titans were able to make free throws down the stretch in the second overtime as three Quarrier starters fouled out of the game in the second overtime. Tea Area took advantage of the foul trouble and outscored Dell Rapids 7-2 for the win.
Dell Rapids finished the game shooting 36% from the field, 31% from beyond the three-point line, and 74% from the free-throw line. The Quarriers had 51 team rebounds, 11 team assists, but turned the ball over 24 times.
Schuch finished the game with a double-double. He had 13 points and 18 rebounds. Story and Mason Schmidt both finished with 16 points each to lead the team. Rentz had 15 points. Heim added 11 rebounds in the game.
Dell Rapids (1-1) will travel to Baltic on Monday, December 18th for their next game.