The Weekend Menu: Are the Central Juniors Ready for a Run?
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What South Dakota high school games should you travel out to see or stay in and watch online over the frigid weekend? PHD gives you the rundown today. Tasty Appetizer. Freeman Academy/Marion takes their shot at 2nd ranked Viborg-Hurley. Can…
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Continue ReadingWhat South Dakota high school games should you travel out to see or stay in and watch online over the frigid weekend? PHD gives you the rundown today.
Tasty Appetizer. Freeman Academy/Marion takes their shot at 2nd ranked Viborg-Hurley. Can the 9-4 Bearcats pull the upset they have been dreaming about? It will be tough. They did beat beat Ethan and gave Bridgewater-Emery a push to the end but lost on a lucky backboard bounce. That said, Canistota and Wessington Springs handled them fairly easily. Six-foot-5 junior wing Thalen Schroeder Thalen Schroeder 6'3" | SG Freeman Academy | 2022 SD is a prospect to watch for the Cats and seeing him battle with Gradee Sherman Gradee Sherman 6'5" | PF Viborg-Hurley | 2021 State SD and Eli Boomgarden Eli Boomgarden 6'5" | PF Viborg-Hurley | 2021 State SD (both 6’5 seniors) could be fun.
Specials. This weekend it’s a West to East travel schedule for those in Rapid City making the nearly 400 mile trip back east. Central and Stevens will trade off opponents facing Brookings (1-10) and Watertown (3-10). For Micah Swallow Micah Swallow 6'3" | SG Rapid City Central | 2021 State SD of Central it’s a chance to once again show that he’s one of the elite seniors in the state by controlling a pair of games. The biggest West to East game is St. Thomas More at Sioux Falls O’Gorman. The Knights are a big squad up front so the ability of Ryan Wojcik Ryan Wojcik 6'2" | SF St. Thomas More | 2021 State SD to score around the basket against Eddie Meylor Eddie Meylor 6'6" | PF SF O'Gorman | 2021 State SD , David Alpers David Alpers 6'5" | PF O Gorman | 2022 State SD , and Chad Ambroz Chad Ambroz 6'4" | PF O’gorman | 2022 State SD is one to watch. Ben Renshaw Ben Renshaw 5'11" | PG Sf Bishop O'gorman | 2021 State SD and Kade Moffitt are a part of a guard rotation that will need to limit the playmaking of St. Thomas More guard Caleb Hollenbeck Caleb Hollenbeck 6'3" | PG St. Thomas More | 2023 State SD .
Main Course. The game of the weekend? It’s more like games of the weekend. It’s time to see what Aberdeen Central’s quality junior class is ready for. They’ve beaten one team with a winning record this year (RC Central) but could be ready to take a step. One of the elite shooters in the state is Central junior Harrison Reede Harrison Reede 5'10" | PG Aberdeen Central | 2022 SD . At 6-foot-0 feet he needs little space to get into his touch from a lot of spots on the floor. Reede and big 6’4 guard Sam Rohlfs make a nasty pair to deal with and they continue to get better. Meanwhile, fellow juniors Alec Voegele Alec Voegele 6'5" | PF Aberdeen Central | 2022 State SD and Noah Behrends Noah Behrends 6'7" | PF Aberdeen Central | 2022 State SD are 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-6 respectively and they can hold their own up front. Is this strong junior group ready for a run right now? We will get a bit of an answer this weekend when they play O’Gorman and Sioux Falls Roosevelt on back to back days. If Central was to get a pair of wins and improve to 10-4 they would vault up into a top 5-6 team in Class AA. But are they ready for that? We shall see.
Dessert. Saturday night Madison versus Flandreau. Flandreau is just on the edge of being ranked in the top ten but as of Monday when the rankings were resorted they had yet to beat anybody with a winning record. That changed when the Fliers knocked off Dell Rapids by a dozen. They took an L last night to Sioux Valley but so have many teams. Now Flandreau needs to prove they are a contender and a consistent squad by beating the 6-5 Bulldogs Sunday evening. For Madison this would be a signature win as they’ve beaten several average squads but nobody that is a contender. Five-foot-11 guard Aspen Dahl of Madison has proven to be a skilled, tough producing guard. Dahl and Flandreau junior guard Liam Streitz could be a good match-up. Problem for Madison is Tash Lunday Tash Lunday 6'5" | PF Flandreau | 2022 State SD . Madison has some big bodies but they are very young. This could be a monster double-double for Tash.