Class B State Tournament: What You Need to Know
The Class B State Tournament is in Aberdeen this year and in only a few hours time B-E and Lower Brule will tip-off. Before the games get going, run through “What You Kneed to Know” with PHD.
PHD State Rankings: 1) Sully Buttes, 2) Bridgewater-Emery, 3) White River, 5) Clark-Willow Lake, 6) Canistota, 10) Langford Area, NR) Lower Brule, NR) Timber Lake
Tournament Seeding: 1) Bridgewater-Emery, 2) Sully Buttes, 3) White River, 4) Clark-Willow Lake, 5) Canistota, 6) Langford Area, 7) Timber Lake, 8) Lower Brule
The Match-Ups/Previous Results:
Bridgewater-Emery (20-3) vs Lower Brule (16-7): Bridgewater-Emery is 2-0 vs the field beating Canistota 79-56 and White River 65-52. The Sioux are 0-2 vs the field losing to White River 67-57 in overtime, and falling to Langford Area 62-61 in two overtimes.
Sully Buttes (22-1) vs Timber Lake (19-3): The Chargers are 2-0 against the state field crushing Timer Lake the first time 59-29 followed by a 57-40 win over Langford in the second to last regular season game. Timber Lake has only played one state team and it was the blowout loss we just referred to.
White River (21-2) vs Langford Area (19-4): White River lost to B-E by 13 but defeated Lower Brule in overtime, so they are 1-1. The Lions have played three state teams beating Lower Brule in over time but losing but to Sully Buttes and falling to Canistota 56-50.
Clark-Willow Lake (18-5) vs Canistota (20-3): The Cyclones haven’t played a Class B state team but they are 1-1 against Class A state beating Sioux Valley but losing to SF Christian by 14 on their Class A heavy schedule. Canistota is 1-1 vs the Class B feat losing to B-E by 23 but defeating Langford by 6.
Top Player Match-Ups:
Lincoln Jorde (6-9 SR C) of Sully Buttes vs Tucker Kraft (6-5 Jr PF) of Timber Lake. Kraft is the more agile player but he is giving up four inches and is the only player on his team bigger than six feet, so he needs to stay on the floor against Jorde. Lincoln is not only a top ten player prospect in the state, he’s also playing on the floor that he will compete in college at the Barnett Center at Northern State. Jorde has the size and post moves, Kraft has the agility and is a top scorer for his team.
Kevin Peterson (6-3 Sr Wing) of Lower Brule vs Sawyer Schultz (6-3 Jr Guard) of Bridegwater-Emery. Peterson is putting up 18-19 a game from the wing but he is going to need to do that, and use his size against Schultz who is an elite junior guard in the state and is starting to have people talking about one of the better guards in the upper Midwest. A season of 23 points, 7-8 boards, and five assists a game will do that.
Jadice Morrison (6-2 Sr Forward) of White River vs Mason Larson (6-7 Sr Forward) of Langford Area. White River has a few bigger players on the bench but they start smaller with Morrison as their center. Morrison scores 15 a game but he’s dealing with Mason Larson, one of the state’s best. Mason is putting up 22 points and nine plus rebounds a game and he will have a five inch edge on all of the opposing starters.
Connor Carlson (6-4 Sr Forward) of Canistota vs Micah Burke (6-6 Jr PF) of Clark/Willow Lake. When mistakes are made, you correct them. You don’t hide. A mistake made by us is that we slipped up on not having Connor Carlson in our latest PHD 100. That’s okay though, hearing from sources this young man is a solid, solid player who has had a great season scoring 18-19 a game plus he’s grown an inch or two this year. Another player that has grown in many ways is Micah Burke. In the paint he will need to slow Carlson using his size edge.
Top Prospects
Top 15 Senior Prospects at Class B State: 1) Mason Larson of Langford Area, 2) Lincoln Jorde of Sully Buttes, 3) Donnie Yackley of White River, 4) Bradyn Rusher of Clark/Willow Lake, 5) Connor Carlson of Canistota, 6) Kevin Peterson of Lower Brule, 7) Jordan Lee of Canistota (he’s been injured for most of the year), 8)Jayshawn Milton of Lower Brule, 9) Jacob Howard of Sully Buttes, 10) Cole Gassman of Bridgewater-Emery, 11) Scott Jolley of Canistota, 12) Ntai Stevens of Clark/Willow Lake, 13) Duot Van Sickle of Bridgewater-Emery, 14) Ryan Punt of Langford Area, 15) Dylan Frey of Langford Area
Top 10 Junior Prospects at Class B State (no order): Sawyer Schultz of Bridgewater-Emery, Jamin Arend of Bridgewater-Emery, Carter Dye of Bridgewater-Emery, Micah Burke of Clark/Willow Lake, Jacob Prouty of Clark/Willow Lake, Brayden PayPay of Timber Lake, Tucker Kraft of Timber Lake, Jadice Morrison of White River, Logan Block of Langford Area
Top Sophomores at Class B State (no order): Nick Sayler of White River, Trey Ortman of Canistota, Shane Sazue of Lower Brule, Nick Wittler of Sully Buttes, Tyson Iyotte of White River, Nick Sayler of White River, Teron Sazure of White River