Friday Night Top Ten: South Dakota’s Most Interesting Games
High School basketball in South Dakota is a treasured thing and there is nothing better than a great match-up on Friday night. Here are our top ten most interesting games of the evening.
First off we have the The Lakota Nation Invitational. The event in Rapid City includes White River, Red Cloud, Lower Brule, Little Wound, and so many others. Games are going on as we speak and will be going through the night and into the weekend.
Tea Area at Dell Rapids. Senior group of Jeffrey Schuch, Mason Schmidt, and Carson Rentz, as well as junior Logan Heim, got by West Central but now they get the much talked about defending champs coming into their house. Noah Freidel, Kade Stearns, Justin Hohn, and company, they have the pressure on their backs in the form of a big bull’s-eye. Now in the gym they’ve grown up in the Dell Rapids crew gets a chance to prove they are legit contenders.
Lincoln at O’Gorman. With Central and Washington both dropping games the number one team in state spot is up for grabs. It’s going to be the winner of this game or Harrisburg most likely. Lincoln has the more experienced team and these are the types of games they need to win if they want to reach their ultimate goals.
Douglas at Sturgis Brown. Love this game. Both have high expectations and the winner will have a leg up early in the year. These are teams with experience in key spots of the line-up and some of the match-ups should be excellent. Douglas is deeper in experience but Sturgis has the ex-factor of Connor Crane.
Elk Point-Jefferson at Sioux Falls Christian. EPJ struggled with Madison losing by 17 but the senior core of Preston Kollbaum, Jared Merkley, and Alex Grashoff get their shot at competing with another top contender and once again they have to do it on the road.
Britton-Hecla at Clark/Willow Lake. There has been change in the Braves program and so far the team is trying to figure things out. After losing to Hamlin and Mobridge-Pollock now B-C has to head straight into the Cyclone core to face Bradyn Rusher, Ntai Stevens, Micah Burke, and Jacob Prouty. It could get ugly but the point is the Cyclones are a team that people should fear.
Brookings at Harrisburg. The season opening Harrisburg beatdown of Pierre has put everyone on notice. Now they welcome Brookings in a game that could have potentially a similar result. If Harrisburg wins this one I think it’s safe to call them a top two team in the state at the moment.
Chester Area at Tri-Valley. Devan Eppard vs Noah Jewett is an excellent guard match-up to watch. And both of these teams are off to a rocky start having been crushed by one of the best teams in state. A win would be huge for both teams while a loss could damage the morale more.
Mitchell at RC Central. Central took care of business out of state, now it’s time for them to pick up a victory locally. This is a game that Central is expected to win being at home and likely have more talent.
Arlington at DeSmet. The Bulldogs think they can put together an upset to knock off a top ten squad. Guard Gage Gruenhagen and company struggled on the road against Clark/Willow Lake but tonight’s game with ranked Arlington is in the Bulldog Dog Pound so the environment will be different.