HARRISBURG — The Harrisburg Tigers started hot, putting the Huron Tigers in an early hole from which they were unable to dig themselves out Tuesday night, as Harrisburg took a 75-54 Eastern South Dakota Conference boys’ basketball win at Harrisburg High School.

“It’s kind of the way our season has gone,” said Huron coach Jon Schouten. “We struggle and get in a hole and spend the night fighting our way back. We have just had trouble stringing together 32 minutes.”

Things started out exactly as Harrisburg wanted as the home team scored the first 11 points of the game before a Jaren Schley three got Huron on the board with 3:33 to go in the quarter. Harrisburg got a couple more buckets, but Schley hit again from deep to cut the lead to nine, at 15-6. Harrisburg got another trio of baskets before Reilyn Zavesky hit a pair of free throws for Huron to make it 21-8 at the quarter. A total of seven different Harrisburg Tigers scored points in the first quarter.

Not much changed in the second quarter, as Harrisburg was able to string together four or six points to every basket that Huron was able to score and a late three from Connor Geddes, who opened the game with a three-pointer, closed the half and made it 38-17 at the break.

Needing a spark to open the second half, Huron failed to find it right away, as Harrisburg outscored the visitors 10-2 over the first three minutes of the quarter, to push Harrisburg’s lead to 48-19. But then the Huron offense came to life.

Derick Siemonsma drained a three and Kler Hae matched his teammate with a trey from the left wing. Jacoby Mehrman converted an old-fashioned three-point play for Harrisburg, which made it 51-25, but Huron closed the quarter on an 11-4 run, much of the damage coming from Zavesky, who continually found a way to get open under the bucket and a late three from Schley made it 56-36 headed to the final stanza.

“We had the opportunity to just roll over and die, but to our credit, the kids really kept fighting tonight,” Schouten said.

Things didn’t get much closer for Huron in the fourth quarter. Hae hit a pair of long threes and a driving layup, and Schley dialed long distance to get the margin to 17, but Harrisburg maintained its cushion the rest of the way, as bench players from both teams closed out the final moments of the contest.

Geddes led all scorers with 19 points, while Hayden Muirhead hit for 17 and Brayden Phipps added 11 for Harrisburg, which improves to 13-5 on the season.

Zavesky led Huron, with 14 points off Schouten’s bench, while Hae and Schley each chipped in 11. Huron, now 2-17, will travel to Watertown on Thursday for the regular-season finale.

“We told the guys in the locker room that Thursday night is sudden death,” Schouten said. “It’s the only game in our control and this is the next chance to put one in the win column. It’s a tough place to play and Watertown has a couple of guys that shoot the ball really well, so we’ll get ready Wednesday. and go looking for that win on Thursday."

Huron (2-17): Max Kranzler 1 2-2 4; Kler Hae 4 0-0 11; Jaren Schley 4 0-0 11; Reilyn Zavesky 4 5-8 13; Derick Simonsma 3 0-0 8; Teagan Pfitzer 1 0-0 3; Isaiah Decker 2 0-0 2. Totals: 19 7-10 54

Harrisburg (13-5): Connor Geddes 7 1-1 19; Blaze Lubbers 3 0-0 6; Hayden Huirhead 3 11-12 17; Nick Tschudy 3 0-0 6; Brayden Phipps 5 0-0 11; Nate Hoyt 1 0-0 3; Ethyn Rollinger 1 0-0 2; Luka Morton 1 0-0 2; Jacoby Mehrman 2 3-3 7; Ethan Determan 1 0-0 2. Totals: 27 12-13 75