After a season-long four-game losing streak, the Dell Rapids Quarrier boys basketball team got back into the win column with two wins over the weekend. The Quarriers defeated the Tri-Valley Mustangs on Friday, February 7th, 69-61.
Dell Rapids was led by Ty Holgund with 28 points. Zane Schumaker finished with 15 points, and Cody Nielsen added 13 points. Nielsen also had a team-high eight rebounds in the game. Hoglund and Schumaker each had three assists apiece. The Quarriers shot 21-40 (53%) from the field in the game and 18-20 (90%) from the free-throw line.
Head coach Jason Fersdahl said, “I was very pleased with our defensive intensity in the second half as we executed our plan to limit scoring opportunities for Tri-Valley’s standout guard, Brendan Boomsma. We let him get going in the first half with 17 points. We rebounded the ball pretty well against a big, physical Tri-Valley team, and we executed offense much better in the second half. We were able to make key free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the game, and we shot free throws extremely well on the night, led by Ty Hoglund (8-8) and Zane Schumaker (7-8).”
Dell Rapids gained another win the very next day, Saturday, February 8th, at the Dakota XII Conference Classic in Tea. The Quarriers played the host team Tea Area Titans and came away with a 62-52 win.
Schumaker led the team in this game with 22 points. Zach White finished with 15 points, Nielsen had 12 points, and Hoglund finished with 10 points. White and Schumaker each pulled down seven rebounds, and Schumaker also dished out six assists. Dell Rapids shot 20-41 (49%) from the field and 15-17 (88%) from the free-throw line.
Fersdahl said, “I feared we would have some tired legs against Tea after playing Tri-Valley the night before, but our players came out with a lot of energy on both ends of the floor. Zane Schumaker really sparked us in the first half by hitting four 3-pointers which forced Tea to really extend their zone defense, allowing our posts to get more open looks on the inside in the second half. Once again, we shot free throws very well. We knew Tea would make a strong fourth quarter run against us, but I was proud of our team for withstanding their run and finishing the game in a very strong way.”
With the two wins, Dell Rapids improves to 9-6 on the year. The Quarriers will travel to Mt. Vernon to take on Mt. Vernon/Plankington on Tuesday, February 11th.
Tri-Valley JV Results:
On Friday the Dell Rapids Quarriers lost a close battle to rival TriValley 31-35. Dells trailed by five at halftime, but they battled back to take the lead in the fourth quarter. Leading the way in the scoring column was Josh Benda with 12 points. Brett Mogen finished with six points for the Quarriers, Sam White had five points, and Tanner Heim finished with four points. Heim and Mogen each had three rebounds for Dell Rapidss. The Quarriers shot a respectable 8-9 from the free throw line in the game.