Photo courtesy of Rhonda Rentz
It wasn’t easy, but the Dell Rapids Quarriers won their 11th straight game and earned a trip to the Class A Boys Round of 16 with a 60-50 win over the Tri-Valley Mustangs in the semifinal round of the Region 3A tournament at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls on Friday, March 2nd.
Dell Rapids raced to a 12-2 advantage early in the first quarter, which would be their largest lead of the game until late in the fourth quarter. The Mustangs closed out the first quarter on a 7-0 run, and Dell Rapids led 12-9 after the first quarter. Tri-Valley scored the first five points of the second quarter and took the lead 14-12. The two teams traded points throughout much of the second quarter. Dell Rapids still had the lead at 28-27 at halftime.
The Quarriers led for most of the third quarter, but never by more than four points. However, Tri-Valley again took the lead after a made three-point shot by Noah Jewett with 2:27 to go in the quarter. The made shot gave the Mustangs a 37-36 lead. Logan Heim scored on a quick inbound pass with 1:55 remaining to give the lead back to Dell Rapids at 38-37. The two teams again traded baskets over the next couple of possessions. Carson Rentz made a three-point shot with under a minute to play to give Dell Rapids a 43-39 lead. The Quarriers led 44-41 at the end of the third quarter. Dell Rapids was finally able to get their up-tempo offense working in the fourth quarter. They were able to turn defensive rebounds into quick transition points as the Quarriers went ahead 53-41 in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. The lead grew to 60-45 before the Mustangs ended the game scoring the final five points.
Dell Rapids shot 42% from the field in the game, 24% from three-point range, and 76% from the free-throw line. They had a total of 36 team rebounds, 19 team assists, seven blocked shots while only turning the ball over six times.
Three players finished in double figures. Mason Schmidt had a team-high 16 points. Jeffrey Schuch had another double-double with 12 points, 14 rebounds as well as three assists and two blocked shots. Drew Van Regenmorter had 11 points and three rebounds. Logan Heim added eight points, 14 rebounds, and four blocked shots. Rentz tallied seven points, but dished out 11 assists.
Noah Jewett hit the 1,000 career point mark in the loss for the Mustangs.
Dell Rapids (17-4) will enter the Round of 16 as the #6 seed and will play the #11 seed Pine Ridge Thorpes on Tuesday, March 6th. The game will be played at 5:30 p.m. at the Winner Armory in Winner, SD. The game can also be seen on Big Sioux Media.