Celebrating their four seniors, the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys basketball team ended their regular season with a big win over the Centerville Tornadoes 82-32 on Friday, February 28th.

The Tornadoes kept it close through the majority of the first quarter.  Centerville trailed by just three points at 10-7 with 2:15 to play in the quarter, but that’s when the Cardinals exploded.  St Mary scored twenty straight points.  They led 28-7 at the end of the first quarter, and then scored the next two points of the second quarter before Centerville was able to get another basket.  The Cardinals pushed the lead to 52-13 by halftime.  St Mary then outscored Centerville 30-19 in the second half as the cruised to the victory.

St Mary shot 45% (34-76) from the field, 34% (10-29) from the three-point area, and 67% (4-6) from the free-throw line.  The Cardinals had 39 team rebounds and 20 team steals.

Four players finished in double figures.  Weston Geraets had 25 points, nine rebounds, and five steals.  Connor Libis had 17 points, four rebounds, four assists, and three steals.  Sam Palmer had 12 points and two rebounds.  Max Herber added 10 points and six rebounds.

Geraets, Cole Welbig, Eli Longville, and Ryan Eining are this year’s seniors that were recognized prior to the game.

St Mary finishes the regular season with a record of 15-5.  They will play in the second round of the Region 4B Tournament at home on Tuesday, March 3rd.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

Playing in their second game in 24 hours, the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys basketball found a way to grind out a win in Baltic against the Bulldogs on Friday, February 21st.  Even though the final score showed a 17-point win at 71-54, the game played much closer than that.

St Mary led for the entire game, but Baltic made a game of it late.  The Cardinals held a five point lead after the first quarter at 16-11.  They were able to push their lead to 11 points by halftime at 38-27.  Baltic was able to cut into the lead, albeit slightly, by the end of the third quarter.  St Mary held a 10-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter at 59-49.  The Bulldogs scored the first three points of the final quarter to cut the lead down to seven at 59-52 with 7:00 to play.  The Cardinal defense held Baltic to just two more points the rest of the game as they pulled away late in the quarter for the win.

The Cardinals were 43% (21-49) shooting from the field, 37% (10-27) from three-point area, and 79% (19-24) from the free-throw line.  Weston Geraets had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds along with four assists in the game.  Connor Libis had 27 points, six rebounds, and four steals.  Sam Palmer had nine points, four rebounds, and two blocks.  Cole Welbig also had nine points, five rebounds, and a team-high five assists.  Max Herber finished with eight points and five rebounds.

St Mary (14-5) will close out the regular season on Friday, February 28th when they host the Centerville Tornadoes.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

On Thursday, February 20th the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal and Howard Tigers found themselves locked in a close Region 4B game at Howard High School.

With the two teams evenly matched, the first quarter went just as expected.  The two teams traded baskets in a high-scoring, high-paced fashion as the two teams combined for 44 points.  Howard held a slim 23-21 lead after the first quarter.  The Tigers were able to push their lead to 33-27 in the second quarter only to see the Cardinals cut it back down to two points at 35-33.  Howard, however, ended the second quarter on a 6-3 run to push the lead back to five points by halftime at 41-36.

The third quarter saw each team go on spurts.  Howard struck first to go on an 8-4 run to push the lead to nine points at 49-40.  St Mary responded with the next five points to cut the lead down to four at 49-45.  The Tigers then scored seven in a row for the largest lead of the night at 56-45.  St Mary would get the lead down to seven by the end of the quarter at 58-51.  The Cardinals then went on an extended run in the fourth quarter.  They were able to get the game tied at 60-60, and then take their first lead at 62-60 at about the midway mark of the fourth quarter.  The lead for the Cardinals remained at two points at 64-62 with 3:00 to play.  Howard scored the next four points to regain the lead at 66-64 with just under 2:00 to go.  With the scored 66-65 in favor of Howard, the Cardinals got the ball and had a chance to take the lead with just seconds remaining, but were called for an offensive foul with :04.8 on the clock.  The Cardinals had to foul on the inbound.  Howard made one of two free throws, and St Mary was able to grab the rebound and call a timeout with :02.9 to go.  A last second three-point shot from half court for St Mary hit off the backboard and back of the rim before falling away no good as Howard hung on for the victory.

The Cardinals were 43% (26-61) from the field, 33% (6-18) from three-point area, and 58% (7-12) from the free-throw line.  Weston Geraets finished with 17 points, nine rebounds, three steals, and two assists.  Connor Libis had a team-high 21 points and five steals.  Max Herber added 10 points, three rebounds, and two assists.  Sam Palmer had six points and four rebounds, and Cole Welbig had five rebounds and four assists.

St Mary (13-5) will be in Baltic on Friday, February 21st.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

Junior Connor Libis hit a milestone few have reached in their high school basketball career on Saturday, February 15th. Libis made his 2,000th point in the game against the Hanson Beavers at the DWU/Culvers Classic in Mitchell, but the Beavers took the game by a score of 78-52.  Libis made his 2,000th point from the free-throw line with 1:55 to play in the second quarter.

In a battle of the top two teams in Region 4B, the first quarter played out as most people expected the entire game would.  Hanson held a slim two point advantage after the quarter at 15-13.  The Beavers took control of the game in the second quarter, and the Cardinals couldn’t recover.  Hanson outscored St Mary 20-7 in the quarter and led 35-20 at halftime.  The Beavers continued to pull away in the second half.  They extended the lead to 57-37 by the end of the third quarter and outscored the Cardinals 21-15 in the final quarter.

St Mary finished the game shooting 37% (19-51) from the field, just 15% (2-13) from three-point area, and 75% (12-16) from the free-throw line.  Libis finished with a team-high 19 points and also had five rebounds.  John Pica had eight points and two rebounds.  Max Herber and Weston Geraets both had six points each.

St Mary (12-4) will be in Howard on Thursday, February 20th as part of a girls and boys double header.  The games can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys won their sixth straight game on Saturday, February 8th.  The Cardinals hosted the Deubrook Area Dolphins and came away with a 61-34 win.

The Cardinals got on a roll after a close first quarter.  St Mary led by just six points at 19-13 heading into the second quarter.  The Cardinals then dominated the second quarter with some high-flying dunks, tenacious defense, and sharp shooting to outscore the Dolphins 28-6 for a 47-19 halftime lead.  That was more than enough for the Cardinals as they cruised through the second half for the win.

St Mary finished the game shooting 40% (24-60) from the field, 29% (4-14) from three-point area, and 75% (9-12) from the free-throw line.  They had 30 team rebounds and 12 steals.

Connor Libis had a team-high 21 points along with four steals and three rebounds.  Sam Palmer finished with 11 points and two rebounds.  Cole Welbig had 11 points, four rebounds, and two steals.  Max Herber had six points and six rebounds, and Weston Geraets had four points, seven rebounds, and five steals.

The Cardinals (12-2) will have a rematch with the Arlington Cardinals on Thursday, February 13th at home.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals put another game in the win column after a 78-47 win over the Garretson Blue Dragons at home on Monday, February 3rd.

The most impressive part of the win was the first quarter.  The Cardinals led by 30 points at the end of the quarter at 37-7.  St Mary missed a total of four shots in the quarter.  They were 6-7 on two-point field goals, 6-8 from three-point shots, and 7-8 from the free throw line.  Connor Libis had 26 of those points while only missing one shot in the quarter (3-3 2pt, 5-6 3pt, 5-5 FT).  The Cardinals just cruised from there.

The two teams both scored 19 points as the Cardinals maintained a 30-point lead at halftime of 56-26.  With the 30-point lead, the running clock was put into play for the entire second half.  The Cardinals outscored the Blue Dragons 22-21 in the second half.

St Mary finished the game shooting 53% (26-49) from the field, 55% (11-20) from three-point area, and 88% (15-17) from the free-throw line.  The Cardinals had 24 team rebounds and nine steals.

Libis finished with a game-high 40 points.  Max Herber followed with 13 points and three rebounds.  Weston Geraets added 10 points and six rebounds.

St Mary (11-2) will host Deubrook Area on Saturday, February 8th.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys earned another victory on the season with a 52-30 road win over the Lake Preston Divers on Friday, January 31st.

The Divers started scored the first four points of the game, but the lead would be short lived.  St Mary ended the first quarter on a 10-0 run for a 10-4 quarter break lead.  The run continued into the second quarter as the Cardinals scored the first four points before the Divers ended the run at 14-0.  St Mary continued to pull away in the second quarter and ended the half leading 25-9.  The defense of the Cardinals limited Lake Preston to only seven third quarter points as the lead grew to 40-16 heading into the fourth quarter.  The Cardinal lead grew to thirty points early in the fourth quarter as St Mary cruised to the victory.

St Mary only shot 30% (17-56) from the field, 11% (2-18) from three-point area, and 67% (16-24) from the free-throw line, but the team pulled down a total of 39 rebounds and had 11 steals.

Ten different players for the Cardinals got into the scorebook.  Connor Libis had 13 points, five rebounds, and two steals.  Connar Kangas had nine points.  Max Herber finished with eight points and seven rebounds.  Weston Geraets, Colin Winberg, John Pica, and Ryan Eining all had four points each.  Sam Palmer, Thomas Eining, and Eli Longville also scored.

The Cardinals (10-2) will host the Garretson Blue Dragons on Monday, February 3rd.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

Playing in their first Dakota Valley Conference tournament championship game since 2006, the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys basketball team came home as tournament champs with a 66-57 win over the Arlington Cardinals on Saturday, January 25th.

St Mary and Arlington are not only two of the top teams in the DVC, but are also considered two of the teams that could make a deep post-season run.  The game had a post-season atmosphere as fans packed the Colman-Egan High School gymnasium.

The two teams didn’t take long to attack the rim the first quarter.  Both teams got a field goal attempt in the first 15 seconds of the game.  Arlington used the fast pace to get out to an 11-4 lead at the 4:30 mark of the first quarter.  Arlington maintained the lead the rest of the quarter and led 17-11 at the break.  St Mary scored the first seven points of the second quarter while holding Arlington scoreless for an 18-17 lead with 4:15 to play in the half.  The defenses continued to play strong, and Arlington took a slim, one-point advantage into the locker room at 24-23.

The start of the third quarter belonged to Sam Palmer and St Mary.  Palmer knocked down three three-point shots in the first two minutes, and St Mary led 34-24 with 6:00 to go in the third quarter.  Palmer finished the third quarter with four made three-pointers and 15 of the team’s 22 points as St Mary led 45-36 heading into the fourth quarter.  The second-half momentum for St Mary continued into the fourth quarter as the team played unselfishly on the offensive end finding the open man for numerous easy baskets.  The defense played strong making key stops to keep keep Arlington from getting any closer than three points in the final quarter to secure the win.

Palmer finished the game with a team-high 23 points.  Connor Libis added 16 points.

St May (9-2) will travel to Lake Preston to take on the Divers on Friday, January 31st in a girls and boys double-header.  The games can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

For the first time since 2006, the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys basketball team will be playing in the Dakota Valley Conference tournament championship game.  The Cardinals earned the spot with a 70-55 win over the Colman-Egan Hawks in the semifinals on Thursday, January 23rd.

Colman-Egan held an early 6-2 lead in the first four minutes of a defensive-laden first quarter.  Neither offense could get into much of a rhythm early in the game.  The Cardinals then went on an 8-0 run to take a 10-6 lead with 2:30 to go in the quarter.  The Hawks responded with a 6-0 run over the next minute to regain the lead at 12-10, but it was St Mary that held the lead at 16-14 after the first quarter of play.  After the two teams traded three-point baskets to start the second quarter, the Cardinals went on a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 24-17.  Colman-Egan made another run at St Mary tying the game at 25-25 with 2:10 to go in the first half.  The Cardinals closed out the half with an 8-3 run to lead 33-28 at halftime.

The Hawks pulled within four points at 40-36 with 4:00 to go in the third quarter, but that was as close as St Mary would let them get.  The Cardinals pushed their lead to as many as 13 points and led 55-45 at the end of the third quarter.  Colman-Egan got the lead into the single digits a few times in the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals never let the Hawks get any closer than within the four points from the third quarter.  St Mary responded each time to push the lead back into double digits for the win.

St Mary finished the game shooting 44% (24-55) from the field, 42% (10-24) from three-point area, and 71% (12-17) from the free-throw line.  They had a total of 23 team rebounds, 12 assists, nine steals, and only eight turnovers.  Colman-Egan finished the game shooting 42% (18-43) from the field, but just 12% (2-17) from three-point area.  The Hawks had 25 team rebounds and turn the ball over 12 times.

Three players finished in double figures for St Mary.  Connor Libis had 34 points, three rebounds, and three assists.  Max Herber added 12 points and two rebounds.  Sam Palmer finished with 11 points and two steals.  Weston Geraets had a team-highs in rebounds with nine, assists with four, and steals with three.  Dalton Voelker led Colman-Egan with 21 points, 15 rebounds, and four assists.  Nate Tolley added 11 points and six rebounds.

The Cardinals (8-2) will play the Arlington Cardinals for the DVC championship on Saturday, January 25th at 6:30 p.m. in Colman.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals were able to maintain their lead throughout the game for a 60-47 opening round win over the Oldham-Ramona/Rutland Raiders in the Dakota Valley Conference Tournament in Colman on Monday, January 20th.

The Cardinals and Raiders were tied at 7-7 in the first quarter, but St Mary closed out the quarter on a 7-2 run for a 14-9 lead.  The Raiders tied the game again at 14-14 early in the second quarter.  St Mary responded with another run and took a 32-22 halftime lead.

The Cardinals scored the first five points of the third quarter for a 15-point lead at 37-22.  St Mary had a double-digit lead throughout most of the second half.  The Raiders cut the lead to nine points at 48-39 early in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as they would get.

Connor Libis had a game-high 31 points.  Sam Palmer and Max Herber both finished with seven points.  Weston Geraets added six points.  Oldham-Ramona/Rutland was led by Brandon Trygstand with 16 points.

St Mary (7-2) will play Colman-Egan in the semifinals on Thursday, January 23rd in Colman at 7:30 p.m.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.