Boys’ Fifth Place
Hitchcock-Tulare 54
Wessington Springs 37
The Hitchcock-Tulare Patriots scored the first nine points of the game and never allowed the Wessington Springs Spartans to get much closer, as the Patriots secured fifth place in the 281 Conference Tournament with a 54-37 win Thursday afternoon.
Zach Binger burned the nets for 26 points in the game to lead the Patriots, who move to 3-7 with the win. Ty Hofer added 12 points and nine rebounds for Hitchcock-Tulare, who will return to action Monday when it hosts Warner in Tulare.
Jacob Messmer and Jon Witte each scored nine points for Wessington Springs and Witte led the Spartan rebounders with six boards. Wessington Springs, now 2-8 on the season, will play Alcester-Hudson in Madison on Saturday.

Hitchcock-Tulare     17 30 46 54
Wess Springs      6 16 26 37
Hitchcock-Tulare (3-7): Zach Binger 11 1-3 26; Cailab Wanner 1 0-0 2; Grant Hamilton 3 0-0 6; Ty Hofer 5 2-3 12; Logan Gilbert 1 0-0 2; Coby Stoner 2 0-0 3; Anthony Anderson 1 1-1 3; Titus Waldner 0 0-2 0. Totals 23 4-9 54.
Wessington Springs (2-8): Gunnar Brandenburg 3 1-2 7; Isaac Kolousek 1 0-0 2; Trance Schooler 0 0-2 0; Coy Fastnacht 0 0-2 0; Jacob Messmer 4 1-1 9; Tyler Kole 1 0-0 2; Jon Witte 3 2-7 9; Clayton Dornbusch 1 0-0 3; Cooper Hainy 2 0-0 5. Totals: 15 4-14 37.

FG: WS - 15-38 40%; HT - 23-58 40%. 3-pt FG: WS - 3-13 (Witte, Dornbusch and Hainy); HT - 4-18 (Binger 3, Stoner). Rebounds: WS - 33 (Witte 6); HT - 28 (Hofer 9). TO: WS - 20; HT - 12. Fouls: WS - 10; HT - 13.

Seventh Place
Iroquois 58
SBA 47

The Iroquois Chiefs overcame an early deficit Thursday morning, coming back in the second half to post a 58-47 win over the Sunshine Bible Academy Crusaders to take seventh place at the 281 Conference Tournament.
After a close first quarter, the Crusaders took control and led by seven points at the half. The lead swelled to 10 in the third quarter before the Chiefs began to climb back into the game, cutting the deficit to a single point heading to the final stanza.
Then Iroquois shut the door, holding SBA to only seven fourth-quarter points, and chalking up 19 to pull away for the win.
Jacob Bich and Adam Keating each scored 13 to lead a balanced Iroquois effort in the game, while Keistan Dubro added 12 and led the Chiefs in rebounding with seven.
Sam Pederson scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Crusaders, while Jade Burma added 10 and led all rebounders with nine boards.
Iroquois, which improves to 2-7 with the win, will host Great Plains Lutheran tonight, while Sunshine Bible, still winless at 0-9, will travel to Wolsey-Wessington on Tuesday.

Iroquois         7 19 39 58
SBA         8 26 40 47
Iroquois (2-7): Zach Dutcher 1 2-4 4; Gavin Machtemes 0 0-1 0; Adam Keating 5 0-0 13; Jacob Bich 5 3-8 13; Keistan Dubro 5 1-2 12; Addison Reed 4 0-0 8; Brandon Decker 3 1-2 8. Totals: 23 4-17 58.
Sunshine Bible Academy (0-9): Jade Burma 2 6-10 10; Sam Pedersen 7 1-2 18; Chris Hass 2 2-2 6; EJ Big Eagle 1 0-0 3; Ross Engle 0 4-4 4; Travis Hass 2 0-1 4; James Cho 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 13-19 47.
FG: I - NA; SBA - 15-53 28%. 3-pt FG: I - 5 (Keating 3, Dubro 1, Decker 1); SBA - 4 (Pedersen 3, Big Eagle 1). Rebounds: I - 28 (Dubro 7, Machtemes 6) SBA - 27 (Burma 9). TO: I - 14; SBA - 20. Fouls: I - 13; SBA - 17 (Burma out).

MIKE CARROLL/PLAINSMAN

Tyler Kole of Wessington Springs shoots over Logan Gilbert of Hitchcock-Tulare during the consolation title game of the 281 Conference Boys’ Basketball Tournament.

Next, Adam Keating of Iroquois dribbles against defensive pressure by Travis Hass of Sunshine Bible Academy.