The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals ended their 2020-2021 season on a high note by taking third in the 2021 South Dakota Class B State Tournament on Saturday, March 20th.  The Cardinals defeated the Viborg-Hurley Cougars 76-58.

Photo taken and used with permission by Lee Palmer

The two teams put on an offensive show in the first quarter.  They combined for 55 points trading shot for shot the entire quarter.  Neither team had more than a four point lead, and it was the Cardinals that held the 29-26 advantage at the end of the quarter.  St Mary continued the hot shooting in the second quarter.  They built an 11-point lead, 46-35, after a field goal by Connor Libis with 2:45 in the half.  The Cougars, though, finished the half on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to four at 46-42.

Viborg-Hurley scored the first three points of the third quarter and pulled within a point, 46-45.  The Cardinals were able to keep the lead throughout the first half of the third quarter.  The Cougars were within two points, 54-52, after a field goal with 3:29 to go, but the two teams struggled to score the remainder of the quarter.  Libis made two free throws with :27 for the only other two points in the quarter, and St Mary lead 56-52 heading into the fourth.  The St Mary defense locked down the Cougars in the final quarter, holding them to just six points, while the offense scored another 20 points to cruise to the 3rd place win.

Three players finished in double figures.  Libis finished with 29 points, five rebounds, and three assists.  Sam Palmer added 17 points, six rebounds, and four assists.  Ashaun Roach-Valandra had 13 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.  Max Herber added nine points and two rebounds.  Ty Brown had five points.

Photo taken and used with permission by Lee Palmer

Libis also earned the big honor of winning this year’s “Spirit of Su” award, which he was awarded at halftime of the championship game.  Libis and Roach-Valandra were named to the All Tournament team.

St Mary finishes their season with a 21-5 overall record.

A late fourth-quarter rally by the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals fell a little short as the Aberdeen Christian Knights defeated the Cardinals 60-53 in the semifinals of the South Dakota State B Tournament on Friday, March 19th.

Both teams were on fire to start the ball game.  The two teams combined for 21 points in the first four minutes of the game.  St Mary held an 11-10 lead with 4:15 to play after a Connor Libis field goal, but it was the Knights that continued to shoot lights-out the rest of the quarter.  Aberdeen Christian went on an 11-0 run for a 21-11 lead and ended the first quarter leading 26-16.  St Mary got within six points early in the second quarter after two made free throws by John Pica, but the Knights kept the lead around 10 points for much of the quarter.  They led 36-26 at halftime.

Aberdeen Christian continued to keep St Mary in check throughout the third quarter.  The Knights held a double-digit lead throughout most of the quarter and led 46-34 heading into the final quarter.  The Cardinals found themselves down 14 points, 51-37, at the final media timeout of the game with 4:16 to play in the game.  The Cardinals then went on an 8-0 run and cut the lead to 51-45 after two free throws by Sam Palmer with 2:54 to go.  Ashaun Roach-Valandra made a three-pointer from the corner with 1:47 to go to cut the Knights lead down to five, 53-48, but that was as close as St Mary could get.  Aberdeen Christian made enough free-throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

The Cardinals finished the game shooting 35% (17-49) from the field, 29% (6-21) from three-point area, and 72% (13-18) from the free-throw line.

Libis had a team-high 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists.  Roach-Valandra ended with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and two assists.  Ty Brown added 10 points and six rebounds.  Palmer finished with nine points, five rebounds, and two assists.  Max Herber had six points and eight rebounds.

The Cardinals (20-5) will play Viborg/Hurley in the 3rd/4th place game on Saturday, March 20th at 5:00 p.m.

Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals took a step closer to their first state title since 2004 after a 75-69 win over the #3 seeded White River Tigers on Thursday, March 18th at the Barnett Center in Aberdeen. 

These two teams had seen each other earlier in the year.  The Cardinals and Tigers did battle in the 2nd Annual Sacred Hoops Classic in Mitchell on January 2nd.  The Cardinals also won that game 89-72.

The Cardinals got out to a quick 6-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game.  White River responded with a 5-0 run for a 7-6 lead with 4:36 to play in the opening quarter.  The Cardinal offense then scored 15 more points and led 21-13 at the end of the quarter.  White River kept the deficit within single digits until the 2:17 mark of the second quarter.  The Cardinals were then able to push the lead to 15 points by halftime, 39-24.  That lead was just enough to hold off a second half rally by White River.

The Tigers slowly chipped away at the lead in the third quarter.  They were able to cut it in half by the end of the quarter, and the Cardinals led 47-40 heading into the fourth quarter.  White River got the lead down to four points after a three-pointer by Colbe Scott with 7:24 left in the game.  The Cardinals shut down the rally at that point.  St Mary went on an 8-0 run capped off by a three-point basket by Connor Libis to give the Cardinals a 55-43 lead with 6:31 to play.  The Tigers made one more attempt at a come back.  Joe Sayler cut the Cardinal lead down to six points, 66-60, with 1:30 left in the game, but a three-point basket and two-free throws by Sam Palmer in a span of fifteen seconds sealed the victory for the Cardinals.

St Mary finished the game shooting 55% (29-53) from the field, 44% (8-18) from three-point area, and 53% (9-17) from the free-throw line.  They had a total of 31 team rebounds, 11 assists, and five steals.

Four players finished in double figures for the Cardinals.  Libis had 28 points, six rebounds, and six assists.  Ashaun Roach-Valandra had 18 points, seven rebounds, and three assists.  Palmer finished with 13 points, five rebounds, and two assists.  Max Herber added 10 points and seven rebounds.

The #6-seeded Cardinals will play #7 Aberdeen Christian on Friday, March 19th.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.

By:  Lee Palmer

In 2004 Colby Fitzgerald and Scott LeBrun took their senior-laden team to a state championship. Seventeen years later they are leading another senior-laden group to the South Dakota Class “B” State Tournament this weekend in Aberdeen as coaches, Fitzgerald the head coach, LeBrun as an assistant along with Mark Liebl and Matt Hanson.

“We have watched that game too many times to count,” Connor Libis, Max Herber and Sam Palmer said.  Palmer added, ‘Like four times this week alone.”

These seniors and their teammates, who were just a barely a year old, or in some cases not even born, and have idolized the 2004 team, get their opportunity on the floor of the Barnett Center, the same venue Fitzgerald and LeBrun cut down the nets. Yet they haven’t lost sight of what it means.

“It is such a cool experience. Not very often does this happen,”  Herber said talking about their idols, who won a state championship, coaching these seniors to a state tournament.

“Yeah I have watched it, but mostly to see some of the stuff we ran when we were up there,” LeBrun said.

Fitzgerald said he has watched the 2002 state championships more. “My mom was not a very good camera person.  She took video of the games, because that was before the games were all televised, so she took the film.  It is special,” Fitzgerald said. “I just want the boys to enjoy themselves. That is what I remember the most is the fun we had when we were up there, and I want them to enjoy that too.”

“They (the coaches) are great. They are letting us have fun and keeping us loose. We are here on a goal, but they want us to have fun doing it as well. It really helps they know what we are feeling, so they are letting us enjoy it,” Palmer mentioned.

Libis reiterated what Palmer said, “Coaches told us to enjoy it. We are happy to be here, but we are not done.”

When asked if there were similarities between the two groups, Libis said that both teams had a lot of seniors, both teams had/have some size, but the game is different and the teams are different.

LeBrun, in his first year as an assistant, said he was honored to be coaching this team and is really glad Fitzgerald asked him to join the staff. Fitzgerald, in his second year as head coach, said it is great to be able to share this with someone he built a life long friendship with from their days playing. He joked that LeBrun should have joined last year because all Scott does is go to state championships.

When talking about idols as coaches Palmer, who wears Fitzgerald’s number 13 partially in honor of his coach, said, “It is really cool. Been a very long time since that number has been on the Barnett floor for St. Mary, and to wear it now with Colby as my coach is really special.”

Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley

It’s been sixteen years since the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal boys basketball team has been to the State B tournament.  That changed when the Cardinals posted a 54-45 Region 4B win over Hanson on Friday, March 5th, and then a 58-51 win over the Elkton-Lake Benton Elks in the SoDak 16 on Tuesday, March 9th.

The #3 seeded Cardinals took on the #2 seeded Hanson Beavers at the Mitchell Corn Palace in the final game of the Region 4B tournament on Friday, March 5th.

In a much anticipated match-up, the first quarter was back and forth as many expected.  The Cardinals were able to grab a slim 16-13 lead by the end of the quarter.  St Mary was able to push that lead to four points at halftime, 28-24.

St Mary then used a big surge in the third quarter to pull away in the game.  The Cardinals went on a 9-4 run to push the lead to 37-28 with 4:45 to play in the third quarter.  They finished the quarter with a 10-point lead, 43-33.  The Beavers made a push in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter.  Hanson cut the lead to 45-40 with 5:00 to go, but the Cardinals responded with a 5-0 run to get back to a 10-point lead, 50-40, with 2:40 left in the game.  St Mary was able to hold the lead to take the victory and qualify for the SoDak 16.

The Cardinals were able to take advantage of 17 Hanson turnovers in the game while committing only four themselves.  Three players finished in double figures.  Connor Libis had 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.  Ty Brown had 13 points and six rebounds.  Sam Palmer finished with 11 points, four assists, two rebounds, two steals, and two blocks.  Max Herber tallied eight points and five rebounds.  Ashaun Roach-Valandra had four points, but also had four assists, three rebounds, and three steals.

Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley

St Mary then traveled to Colman to face a familiar Region 4 and Dakota Valley Conference opponent, the Elkton-Lake Benton Elks, in the SoDak 16 game on Tuesday, March 9th.

The Elks held an 11-10 lead, which was their largest lead of the game, with 1:30 to play in the first quarter.  Libis hit a base-line jumper to give the Cardinals a 12-11 lead with 1:18 left in the quarter.  It was a lead St Mary would not lose.  They finished the quarter scoring four more straight points for a 16-11 lead heading into the second quarter.  The Elks got within two points, 16-14, with 6:45 to play in the half.  St Mary then went on a 15-2 run for a 31-16 lead with 4:00 to go in the quarter.  Elkton-Lake Benton responded with a 14-5 run of their own to close out the quarter, and St Mary led 36-30 at halftime.

The Cardinals again pushed the lead to 15 points outscoring the Elks 9-0 in the first four and half minutes of the third quarter.  St Mary led 45-30 with 3:30 to go in the quarter.  The Elks, however, would not go away.  They ended the quarter on an 11-3 run to pull within seven, 48-41, heading into the fourth quarter.  The Cardinals were able to keep a 10-point lead throughout much of the fourth quarter.  The Elks got within six at 55-49 after an offensive rebound and put back with :31 to go in the game, but the St Mary lead was too big to overcome as the Cardinals took the 58-51 victory to qualify for the state tournament.

Libis finished with a game-high 22 points along with seven rebounds and four assists.  Palmer had 14 points, six rebounds, and two assists.  Roach-Valandra had six points, four rebounds, and three steals.  Brown also had six points.  Herber finished with five points and eight rebounds. 

The Cardinals will be the #6 seed in the South Dakota Class B State Tournament.  Their first game will be Thursday, March 18th against #3 White River at 7:45 p.m. in Aberdeen.