HURON — The scoring firm of Evers and Evers showed up Tuesday night at Huron Arena, sparking the Huron Tigers to a 71-54 win over the Pierre Governors in ESD boys’ basketball action. Senior Tanner Evers scored 23 points - 17 of them in the fourth quarter - and junior Teegan Evers led all scorers with 24 points in the decisive win.
The game was far different from the opening tip than the last time the teams met. On Jan. 25, Huron went into Pierre and came home with a lopsided 70-48 win over the Governors. Tuesday night’s game was tight throughout the first two and a half quarters, before Huron pulled away for the win.
“We knew that we were not going to see the same team as we did 10 days ago,” said Tiger mentor Jon Schouten. “They are big and strong and have that winning mentality, coming off their football title last fall.”
Pierre opened with a three-pointer from Alec Miller, grabbing a lead they never even sniffed 10 days earlier. Huron bounced back quickly with a seven-point run, as a basket from Tanner Evers, and five straight points from Kobe Busch put the Tigers on top. Pierre responded with a 7-0 run of its own and held a lead the rest of the quarter, until a basket from Teegan Evers off a Jett McGirr feed knotted the score at 16 after one period of play.
“We took some questionable shots early in the game,” Schouten said. “We didn’t defend as hard as we did in Pierre at the start.”
The teams traded baskets throughout the early part of the second quarter. With just under three minutes to play in the half, Busch made a nice spin move on the left side, drew the entire Governor defense to the lane, then dropped a perfect pass to Blake Cruse to tie the score at 23-all.
Grant Judson laced a three for Pierre, but Huron caught fire, scoring eight straight points, keyed by a rare four-point play from Teegan Evers, for a 31-26 lead and Huron held that five point cushion to the halftime locker room.
“We talked at the half about getting back to playing better defense,” Schouten said. “We win games with our defense. Some teams can get away from that but we need to defend first and foremost.”
A quick third-quarter basket from Tanner Evers was countered by a six-point run to cut the margin to a single point at 35-34, with 5:37 left in the period.
Then the Tiger rally that was bubbling right on the surface broke through. McGirr hit a driving layup, Busch put home a offensive rebound of his own miss, then found Tanner Evers with a sweet pass. Teegan Evers made a steal in the backcourt and quickly converted it into a one-handed flush, then added a short jumper at the 3:40 mark, and just that quickly the lead was 11 points, at 45-34. Huron ended the quarter with an eight point lead, 46-38.
Miller hit a three to open the quarter but the Pierre rally - and in reality the game - ended there, because Tanner Evers set up shop in behind the three point line in the right corner. Tanner Evers hit four three-point field goals in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, all within spitting distance of each other, and younger brother Teegan Evers hit a pair of charity tosses as the Tigers exploded to a 60-45 lead and were never threatened as Huron pushed its record to 9-6 with the win. Pierre falls to 4-10.
“Tanner hasn’t been shooting as well as he would like,” Schouten said, “so it was good to see him heat up tonight. They kind of lost him in that corner for awhile tonight and he really had it going. Best of all, every player on our bench was up and yelling for him when he was stroking it. That’s just the kind of kids these are.”
Evers and Evers did the damage on the scoreboard, while Busch filled the stat sheet. Busch had seven points and led the Tigers with seven rebounds and added five assists, consistently drawing double teams when he made a move in the lane, and kicking the ball to an open teammate for a basket.
Pierre got 15 points and 11 rebounds from Grey Zabel, while Garrett Stout added 14 points and Alec Miller chipped in 12.
