HURON — Cold shooting in the second and third quarters added up to a loss for the Huron Tigers Tuesday night, as they dropped a 56-39 ESD boys’ conference basketball tilt to the Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles.
Aberdeen evened its record at 3-3 with the win, while Huron falls to 2-5.
“We have always maintained that if you hold a team below 50 points, you are going to come out okay, and that happened tonight,” said Tiger coach Tim Buddenhagen. “We score 17 in the first quarter and only 22 the rest of the way. We have to figure out where to get our points; we won’t win many games scoring 39 points.”
It appeared, at least at the start, that the cold shooting that had plagued the Tigers through a portion of the early season had gone away over the lengthy holiday break, as they jumped out quickly on a three-pointer from Kobe Busch and a put-back from Tanner Evers for an early 5-1 lead.
The Golden Eagles responded, as Colin Stoebner hit a deuce and Brandon Kusler dialed long distance to give Aberdeen a 6-5 lead.
Busch hit from deep again, starting a points-trading series. A Teegan Evers layup, paired with another Busch trey put Huron up 15-10 as the clock rolled past the two minute mark of the quarter.
Kusler hit an inside bucket, but missed the ‘and-one,’ for Aberdeen with 1:17 left, and the quarter ended with a score of 17-12 after Isaac Carr hit two charity tosses for the Tigers.
The Golden Eagles had opportunities, but ended the quarter 1-6 from the line. That stat, combined with Busch’s three deep bombs made for Huron’s five-point advantage.
The cold shooting gnomes reappeared in the second quarter for Huron, as the Golden Eagles scored the first 14 points of the stanza, most of the damage coming inside from the twin 6-foot, 7-inch towers of Cole Bergan and younger brother Andrew Bergan, as the younger Bergan scored seven straight points for the Golden Eagles.
Sean Flanery managed the only Huron basket of the quarter, hitting a layup with 2:10 on the clock. The Tigers were 1-10 from the field in the period.
The Golden Eagles got back-to-back buckets from Stoebner to end the half on a 4-0 run and took a 30-19 lead to the locker room.
“We were alright as long as we were scoring,” Buddenhagen said, “but we got down and things just compounded. They (Aberdeen) were physical with us tonight and we didn’t do anything that we worked on all last week.”

The Golden Eagle barrage continued in the third quarter. After another Busch three-pointer opened the scoring, Aberdeen quickly ran off seven points, led by Nathan Rook and Cole Bergan.
Busch scored on an offensive rebound put-back, but that was it for Huron in the quarter, while Jonah Dohrer hit a pair of free throws, Mason Flakus scored on a short jumper and Cole Bergan hit one-of-two charity tosses for a 42-24 lead after three quarters.
The deficit was too high a hill to climb for the Tigers, as the lead crept up past 20-points and stayed there until garbage time in the last couple of minutes.
Collin Stoebner had 11 points and added six rebounds for Aberdeen, while Andrew Bergan also had 11 points in the game. Rook claimed six rebounds for the Golden Eagles.
Busch scored 23 of the Tigers’ 39 points, and had 13 rebounds for Huron. In the game, Huron ended up 15-45 from the field for 33 percent, while Aberdeen shot a much warmer 20-47 for 43 percent.
Once again, Huron faced a deficit at the free throw line. Although the Tigers hit 5-6 from the charity stripe, Aberdeen shot 25 free throws and made 14 of them.
“We weren’t tough tonight,” Buddenhagen said. “I thought Jett (McGirr) Kobe and Ben (Walton) showed toughness but that was it for us. We let Aberdeen do what they needed to do and didn’t really stop them from doing anything.”
In preliminary action, Aberdeen Central took a 46-44 win in the JV game, as a late three-point attempt by Huron rimmed out.
Teegan Evers led the Tigers with 21 points and seven rebounds.
The Tigers took a big 61-43 win in the sophomore game, behind 29 points from Nathan Boehrns and six rebounds from Landon Hegg, and also held on for a 52-31 win in the freshman A game, as Jaren Schley and Derick Siemonsma each scored 15 points.
The Golden Eagles took a 46-34 win in the freshman B game. Huron’s Juan Urena scored 10 points and Beau DeJean added eight for the Tigers.
Huron is back in action on Saturday night, when it hosts Harrisburg, while Aberdeen hosts undefeated Rapid City Central on Friday night.

Aberdeen     12  30  42  56
Huron     17  19  24  39
Aberdeen (2-3):Nathan Rook 2 0-1 4; Jonah Dohrer 2 5-6 9; Colin Stoebner 4 3-6 11; Cole Bergan 2 2-6 4; Brandon Kusler 3 0-2 7; Mason Flakus 1 2-2 4; Andrew Bergan 5 0-0 11; Brandon Fauth 0 2-2 2; Jordan Schnaidt 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 14-25 56.
Huron (2-4): Tanner Evers 2 0-0 4; Kobe Busch 8 3-4 23; Isaac Carr 0 2-2 2; Teegan Evers 2 0-0 4; Sean Flanery 1 0-0 2; Dawson Diede 2 0-0 4. Totals: 15 5-6 39.
FG: AC - 20-47, 43%; H - 15-45 33%. 3-pt FG: AC - 2-13 (Kusler and A. Bergan); H - 4-16 (Busch 4). Reb: AC - 33 (Rook 6, Stoebner 6); H - 30 (Busch 13). TO: AC - 10; H - 14. Fouls: AC - 12; H - 18 (Teegan Evers out

Photos:

Huron’s Nolan Wiegel dribbles against defensive pressure by Aberdeen Central’s Nathan Rook during their game Tuesday at Huron Arena.

Next, Huron’s Blake Cruse passes the ball around Aberdeen Central defender Brandon Fauth during their game Tuesday at Huron Arena.

Photos by Mike Carroll/Plainsman