Class AA State Tournament: What You Need to Know
The Class AA State Tournament in Sioux Falls opens Thursday at 3pm and runs through Saturday night with the State Championship. What are the Facts & Figures you need to know going in? We run you through them now.
PHD State Rankings: 1) RC Stevens, 2) RC Central, 3) SF Lincoln, 5) Harrisburg, 6) SF Washington, 7) SF O’Gorman, 9) Yankton, NR) Douglas
SDHSAA Seeding/Match-Ups: 1) RC Stevens, 2) RC Central, 3) SF Lincoln, 4) Harrisburg, 5) SF Washington, 8) SF O’Gorman, 10) Douglas, 11) Yankton
Previous Match-Ups:
RC Stevens (17-3) vs SF O’Gorman (13-8): 1-1 Split this year (67-63 SFoG, 51-46 RCS). In the first meeting Jaron Zwagerman had 19 for the Knights while Will Moore counter with a double-double of 15 and 10.
RC Central (17-3) vs Douglas (16-5): Central won 77-70. Kailleb Walton-Blanden had 19 and Dylan Hay had 17 to lead Central to the win. Darius Dawson led Douglas with 14. Central had an early 19 point lead in this contest.
SF Lincoln (14-6) vs Yankton (14-7): Lincoln won 75-53. Alex Glanzer made 7 of 10 threes and 9 of 14 shot overall scoring 25 to lead the blowout. Lincoln was up a dozen in the first quarter. Jared Jaros had 17 and Diang Gatluak scored 15.
Harrisburg (17-4) vs SF Washington (12-8): Harrisburg won 69-59. The Tigers were down 15 in the first half and came back to win by double digits. Chase Altenburg had nine in the third quarter comeback on his way to 20 for the game while Nick Hoyt had 19. Zach Heins led Washington with 17.
Top Player Match-Ups:
Jaron Zwagerman (6-4 Sr Forward) of O’Gorman vs Will Moore (6-5 Sr Forward) of RC Stevens. Both Zwagerman and Moore have had excellent years and played about even in the previous game. Moore has played far and above what was expected and Zwagerman’s consistency has helped the Knights get to state. Watch the strong forward match-up. Don’t forget about sophomore Akoi Akoi up front of O’Gorman but Cooper Bowman is playing so well at guard for Stevens that he can counter a lot.
Kailleb Walton-Blanden (6-2 Sr Guard) of RC Central vs Russell Morton (6-2 Sr Guard) of Douglas. Walton-Blanden has proven to be one of the elite players in the state this year while Morton has been solid as well. Both teams use balance to win games but both are key playmakers for their clubs. Walton-Blanden is more explosive and has the eyes of the state on him.
Michael Mors (6-7 Fr Power Forward) of Yankton vs Diang Gatlauk (6-5 Sr Small Forward) of SF Lincoln. Different players but Gatlauk will have to see Mors because of his agile length. Mors has shown he can face several different players and have success. He scored against the athletes of DeLaSalle and the size of Cole Bergan. Can he deal with the length and agility of Gatlauk?
Logan Uttecht (6-2 Sr Guard) of SF Washington vs Chase Altenburg (6-2 Sr Guard) of Harrisburg. Both teams are balanced and win games with all of their weapons sharing the ball. Harrisburg has more guards, Washington one man deeper up front. Uttecht and Altenburg will both be leaned on for important numbers. Seth Benson is likely to see Altenburg and Nick Hoyt as the Washington senior is such a quality defender.
Top Prospects
Top 10 Senior Prospects at Class AA State: 1) Diang Gatlauk of SF Lincoln, 2) Kailleb Walton-Blanden of RC Central, 3) Christophe Bwayna of SF Lincoln, 4) Zach Heins of SF Washington, 5) Logan Uttecht of SF Washington, 6) Brady Von Holland of Harrisburg, 7) Ace Zorr of Harrisburg, 8) Chase Altenburg of Harrisburg, 9)Jaron Zwagerman of SF O’Gorman, 10) Will Moore of RC Stevens
Top Junior Prospects at Class AA State: Luke Ronsiek of SF O’Gorman, a 5-10 guard. Nick Hoyt of Harrisburg, a 5-10 guard. Dylan Pourier of Douglas, a 6-0 guard. Darius Dawson of Douglas, a 6-4 forward. Jared Jaros of SF Lincoln, a 6-2 guard. Rex Ryken of Yankton, a 6-2 guard. Dawson Paulsen of RC Stevens, 6-3 small forward.