HURON — The Huron Tigers used a pair of offensive runs - one in each half - and stifling defense in the second half to shut down the Sturgis Brown Scoopers 49-39 Saturday afternoon at Huron Arena.
Saturday’s win, coupled with Huron’s win over Spearfish on Friday night, completed the weekend sweep for the Tigers and pushed their season record to 7-9, while Sturgis falls to 11-4 with the loss.
The Tigers showed their defensive teeth from the start, forcing the Scoopers into a shot-clock violation on the visitors’ first possession. Sturgis did get on the board first, one minute into the game as Ryan Garland hit a short jumper. Huron tied it up seconds later as Tanner Evers hit the first two of his game-high 15 points on a putback of his own miss. Two more traded baskets made it 4-4, when Huron went on its first run of the day. Kobe Busch hit three-point field goals on three consecutive possessions for the Tigers and fired a sweet pass to a cutting Sean Flanery, who completed the traditional three-point play to make it 16-7. A three-pointer from Connor Crane carved the lead to six at the break.
But the Tiger offense that was revved up in the first quarter began to sputter in the second, as Huron scored just eight points in the period - six from Evers and a putback from Busch.
Sturgis, on the other hand, found the range from behind the arc, connecting on four three-pointers in the quarter - two from Dawson Geuke on back-to-back possessions and also got a nifty bucket inside from Jay Krull off an assist from Geuke, to stake themselves to a 26-24 lead at the break.
As he left the floor at the end of the half, Tiger coach Tim Buddenhagen gave those in earshot a glimpse of his second-half strategy: “They better not get any more threes,” the Huron mentor said.
While the Tiger “D” didn’t completely shut down the Scoopers outside game - Geuke hit a pair of bombs in the fourth quarter - the Huron defense did hold Sturgis to only two points in the third quarter and a total of 13 in the second half.
“Defensively, I was happy with the way we played overall,” Buddenhagen said after the game. “I thought in the second half particularly, we were causing them to work really hard and take up most of their shot clock to get any sort of look.”
The Scoopers actually scored the first two points of the second half, as Geuke found Krull inside again, but there were no more tallies added to the Sturgis side of the board for the remainder of the quarter.
Tanner Evers got Huron’s first bucket, inside the five-minute mark in the quarter, then younger brother Teegan Evers stepped in front of a Sturgis pass and took it coast-to-coast for an easy layin.
The play ignited the Tigers, as they forced a second shot-clock violation on the next Scooper possession, then began a 7-0 run over the final two minutes of the quarter.
PHOTOS BY MIKE CARROLL/PLAINSMAN
Huron’s Teegan Evers puts up a shot against Connor Crane of Sturgis during their game Saturday at Huron Arena. Huron’s Jett McGirr drives against Dawson Gauke of Sturgis during the second half of their game Saturday at Huron Arena.