Tuesday Night Predictions (SD)
Tuesday night is a big night for the teams in Sioux Falls and an even bigger night for Class A as a pair of top ten squads go head to head. Top games and who will win? PHD gives it a thought.
**USA Today Photo of Koln Opplold.
Bison at Rapid City Christian. Bison has barely played. They had just three early season games before Christmas and once since. Sure they are 3-1 but they are facing a Christian squad that is 5-1 coming off a big win and they’ve faced a better schedule. Comets by double digits.
Potter County at Stanley County. Fort Pierre is the host this evening for the Buffaloes and the Battlers. Potter County has been playing better basketball than Stanley County as of late but it’s a road game which can even things up quickly. For that reason and that reason along we are picking Stanley County in a close game.
Sanborn Central/Woonsocket at Kimball/White Lake. The Wildkats are the home squad and the bigger team while the Blackhawks are on a losing streak but have played tougher teams so far. The home team is 6-1 but we feel like Sanborn Central evens things out a bit against Region foe Hanson by beating a Kimball/White Lake squad that Hanson couldn’t.
SF Christian at Dell Rapids. Game of the night? I would say so. Look at your match-ups: Koln Oppold vs Jeffrey Schuch in a forward battle of 17u teammates with Oppold being better facing and Schuch doing a lot at the rim, the 2019 in the paint of Mitchell Goodbary vs Logan Heim where Heim has four inches but Goodbary is agile and strong, Lincoln Unruh vs Elijah Story and Drew Van Regenmorter, Gavin Schipper vs Carson Rentz in a top shooter vs top shooter affair, and Mitchell Oostra vs Mason Schmidt as known scorer Schmidt takes in Oostra who has made a name for himself this year. This has everything it needs to be game of the night as the favorite (SFC) is on the road and undefeated facing a Dell Rapids team that needs a win against a top team after losing to Tea and Sioux Valley. Fired up Dell Rapids gets the W? Sounds right, by a point.
SF O’Gorman at SF Washington. O’Gorman with so many new faces (to the varsity rotation) is 5-3 and Washington is 3-5? Are your sure it isn’t the other way around? It’s not. Washington lost close games to their other Sioux Falls rivals early and then they took on three big schools from Minnesota and got throttled. Can the Warriors turn it around and avoid an 0-3 swing of Sioux Falls the firs time around? The Knights are two games better in the stands but we don’t think they are two games better as a team so we go with the home squad who will have the motivation.
Sioux Valley at Hamlin. A Region Two battle of top ten teams, its the 5th ranked Cossacks against 8th ranked Hamlin. The home team has had this game marked on their calendars. Hamlin give Class B’s number one Clark/Willow Lake a run before falling but has beaten good teams from Flandreau and Groton Area. Now they are stepping up in competition against a balanced Sioux Valley squad that has Trevor Hanson up front playing like an unstoppable monster and guys around him like Trevor Olson, Noah Puetz, and Max Nielson that have been consistent. Another problem is that Hamlin is very small with their biggest guy standing 6-foot-2, maybe 6-foot-3. Joe Roe is that 6-foot-3 and he’s a battler coming off a double-double while Mitch Noem is the shooter to locate. Still, it will be a Sioux Valley win to give them ten wins.
Sturgis Brown at Hill City. The Rangers are off to a 6-2 start and just beat the struggling Moguls of Edgemont by a score we will just ignore. That said, Sturgis has completely controlled all of their smaller school opponents this season and this feels like another double figure win. The potential for a good competitive game is there early but the Scoopers will start moving points to the board when there size and strength in numbers wears on their opponent.
Yankton at SF Lincoln. When it comes to prospect status nobody in the state of South Dakota can match what Matthew Mors of Yankton offers as a skilled and agile freshmen. He gave DeLaSalle, the six time defending champion of Minnesota, a heck of a run before losing by four. Against Harrisburg though the effort was not enough and they lost by 21. Can Mors and Yankton pull off a win at Lincoln that would propel them into the future and allow the program a big step? Maybe not yet. Soon, but not yet. Patriots win and hold their top spot.