HURON — The Huron Tigers opened a lead with a 13-3 run in the first half then put the game on ice with a 14-3 rally in the third quarter, as they downed the Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles 65-49 in Eastern South Dakota Conference boys’ basketball action at Huron Arena Monday night.
“This was a good game for us tonight,” said Huron coach Jon Schouten. “I’m very proud of how our guys all stepped up with Tanner out and contributed to this win.”
Senior swingman Tanner Evers sat out the game, after spraining an ankle late in practice. Schouten opted to sit him with two more games on the schedule this week.
From the opening tip, the Golden Eagles had a ‘feed the big guy’ mentality, as Reece Burckhard, a 6-foot, 8-inch sophomore, continually found the hoop, either on feeds from a teammate or on second chance points. Aberdeen was content to simply reverse the ball on the outside, getting Burckhard positioned on the low block, where he was nearly automatic.
While the Golden Eagles were scoring in the paint, Huron was shooting - and connecting - from distance. Three pointers from Teegan Evers, Kobe Busch, Cooper Fryberger and Nathan Boehrns pushed Huron to a 16-15 lead after the first quarter.
Part of the Tiger’s deep shooting was by necessity, as the Golden Eagles employed an aggressive 2-3 zone that caused problems for the Huron offense.
“We came out with good energy tonight,” Schouten said. “We got started well and then they came out with that zone and it threw us for a bit.”
Burckhard hit short field goals on the first two possessions of the second quarter to push the lead to three points for the Golden Eagles. Jett McGirr countered with a driving layup and then a pair of charity tosses on consectutive possessions to push Huron back into the lead, but Burckhard posted up and scored, to make it 21-20.
An Evers three pointer from the right wing gave the Tigers the lead, but Burckhard scored and converted the ‘and-one’ for a 24-23 lead.
But Evers drove the lane and was fouled, hitting one of two free throws, before hitting three-pointers on the next three trips, transforming a 24-23 deficit into a 33-24 lead. A late bucket from Andrew Bergan for Aberdeen cut the margin to seven at the half.
The Golden Eagles came out refocused in the second half, as first Jordan Schnaidt then Seth Martins hit three-pointers and Burckhard converted a tip in to counter an old fashioned three-point play by Blake Cruse to cut the Huron lead to two points, 36-34, with two minutes gone in the quarter.
Then Huron got rolling. Evers and Busch hit field goals on back-to-back possessions, Boerhns found a hole in the Golden Eagle defense for a 15-foot teardrop, then stepped outside to drill a three-pointer. Evers hit a floater in the lane, then he shook loose on the perimeter for a three pointer with 11 seconds left. A Golden Eagle turnover got a last second look for Mason Rozell and the Tiger reserve cashed in the jumper to give Huron a 15-point lead, at 52-37 and the Golden Eagles never got any closer.
Schouten noted that he credited assistant coaches Kody Kopfmann, David Westby and Troy Brock, for reminding the team exactly what adjustments needed to be made to counter the AC zone defense. “We put a guard in the high post and brought our bigs in closer to force the bottom guys on their zone to close up a bit.”
Evers led all scorers with 25 points, including a 6-for-10 effort behind the arc. Boehrns came off the bench to score 16, hitting four of his eight three-point attempts. As a team, the Tigers converted 13-of-29 from distance, for 45 percent, and shot a much cooler 11-26 from inside the arc, ending the game 24-55 from the field, for 44 percent.
Busch led all rebounders with eight boards and also had three assists.
Burckhard scored 23 points to lead the Golden Eagles, 16 of them in the first half, while Alex Harms had seven boards.
Huron is on the road tonight, traveling to Brookings for a game against the Bobcats, before returning home to face Watertown on Friday, as weather postponements from earlier in the season force the team into a three-games-in-five-days scenario.
“We had outstanding play off our bench again tonight,” Schouten said. “Everyone who came in gave us good minutes and solid play, which we needed.”
