After having the semifinals of the Dakota Valley Conference tournament delayed by a day, the Dell Rapids St May Cardinal boys fell to the Elkton-Lake Benton Elks on Satuday, January 19th at Deubrook High School in White.
The Cardinals opened the game on fire jumping out to an 11-2 lead in the first two minutes. The Elks responded with a 7-0 run to close the gap to 11-9. St Mary responded with an 11-3 spurt to close out the quarter. The Cardinals led 22-12 after the first quarter. St Mary pushed their lead to 15 points at 33-18 with 4:30 to play in the second quarter. The Elks then went on a 19-6 run the remainder of the quarter to close the gap to 39-37 by halftime.
Elkton-Lake Benton tied the game with 6:30 to go in the third quarter at 41-41. The two teams traded baskets through much of the third quarter, but the Elks took a five-point lead at 54-49 with just over a minute to play in the third quarter. Elkton-Lake Benton held that five-point lead at the end of the quarter at 56-51. The Elks scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to extend their lead to 62-51 with 6:15 to play in the game. The Elks held a double-digit lead for most of the quarter, but the Cardinals cut the lead down to two points at 71-69 with 1:15 to play. The Elks, however, put the game away at the free throw line for the win.
Max Herber led the team with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Weston Geraets finished with 14 points. Elkton-Lake Benton was led by Matthew Nibbe with 16 points and Aiden Erickson with 15 points.
St Mary (8-2) will play in the 3rd/4th place game on Monday, January 21st in Arlington. The Cardinals will play Colman-Egan with a 6:00 p.m. tipoff.