STURGIS, SD – The Sturgis boys basketball team struggled against the Custer in week one, getting blown out in the second half by the Wildcats. The Scoopers used an energetic home crowd and a dynamic offense to put together a solid 32-minute performance on Friday night at West Gymnasium, defeating the Pierre Governors, 55-52.
The Scoopers came out firing in the first quarter, draining seven of 14 shots behind Ryan Heinert’s 6 points and led 16-13 headed into the second quarter.
Junior sharpshooter Hayden Rock took over in the second, hitting four three pointers and scoring 15 points to give Sturgis a 32-29 lead at the half.
The Scoopers outscored Pierre 13-10 in the third to extend their lead to 45-39 headed into the fourth quarter. Sturgis had a 55-52 lead with :23 seconds left and lost the ball out of bounds, giving the ball to the Govs. The Scooper defense held strong, forcing Pierre guard Luke Olson to shoot an off-balance three pointer that bounced off the back of the rim and out of bounds with .8 seconds left. Sturgis threw the ball over the Pierre defense to half court to secure the win.
Sturgis (1-1) shot 22 of 47 from the field for 46% and was perfect from the free throw line, going 6-for-6. The Scoopers had 13 turnovers and 25 rebounds and were led by Rock with 27 points. Heinert added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Sturgis head coach Dan Skinner was happy with his team’s effort.
“We came off a tough one against Custer, a game where we had the lead and we didn’t finish,” Skinner said. “I was super proud of our boys tonight, how they stayed together as a team and how we got the job done for the full 32 minutes. We’ve got a lot of good basketball players and we’re a very good team, and it’s just been putting it all together, stringing it all together, so it was really nice to see that we were able to do that tonight against a very good Pierre team, a very physical, well coached, disciplined, fundamentally sound Pierre squad.”
Pierre (2-1) was led by Dawson Getz with 14 points. Eladio Simental chipped in 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. The Governors shot 37% from the field and 60% from the free throw line, making nine of 15 charity tosses. Pierre had eight turnovers and 25 rebounds.
The Pierre Governor girls beat the Scoopers in Pierre on Friday night, 65-36. No statistics were available.
The Scoopers are in action next on Saturday as the boys host the Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles at West Gym. Tip off is scheduled for 2pm. The Sturgis girls travel to Aberdeen Central to take on the Golden Eagles at 12:30 Mountain.
