Top seeds all advance with quarterfinal victories in six area Class A, B regions

Top seeds Groton Area, Hamlin, McLaughlin, Leola-Frederick Area, De Smet and Faulkton Area each posted quarterfinal wins Tuesday in Class A and B boys basketball region tournament games across the area.

Tuesday's quarterfinal winners advance to region semifinal games on Friday. Winners of those games advance to SoDak 16 state-qualifying games on Tuesday, March 5.

Here's a recap of Tuesday's games by region:

Region 1A

At Groton, top-seeded Groton Area rolled past No. 8 Redfield 70-17 and fifth-seeded Aberdeen Roncalli slipped past No. 4 Waubay-Summit. At Milbank, No. 2 seed Milbank handled No. 7 Sisseton 57-32 and No. 3 Tiospa Zina dropped No. 6 Webster Area 71-53.

On Friday, Groton Area (17-4) hosts Aberdeen Roncalli (14-7) at 7 p.m. and Milbank (16-5) entertains Tiospa Zina (14-7) at 7 p.m. in Milbank.

Thirteen players scored for Groton Area, which was led by Lane Tietz's 19 ppints. Justin Ratigan had eight points and five rebounds for Redfield (1-20).

Keegan Stewart tallied 16 points, Maddox Miller and Aiden Fisher 13 each and Parker Grieben eight for Roncalli. Stewart and Grieben each also had six rebounds. Jackson Wohlleber's 23 points and seven rebounds led Waubay-Summit (14-7). Traveion Neilan contributed 16 points.

Garrett Mertens scored 20 points, Joe Schulte 17 and Emmett Hanson nine for Milbank. Schulte and Hanson each snared six rebounds. Christian Shepherd's 14 points and Ethan DeSpiegler's seven paced Sisseton (3-18).

Carvin Fish produced 20 points, Storm Sierra and Johnny Rivers 13 apiece and Nate Thompson 12 for Tiospa Zina. Sierra also snared seven rebounds. Webster Area (8-13) got 25 points from Matthew Mount and 12 points and six rebounds from Ian Lesnar.

Region 2A

Quarterfinal games were played at home sites for the higher seeds. No. 1 Hamlin beat No. 8 Florence-Henry 79-36 at the Hamlin Education Center, No. 5 Clark-Willow Lake pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat No. 4 Great Plains Lutheran 51-39 in Watertown, No. 2 Sioux Valley took it to No. 7 Deuel 71-33 at Volga and No,. 3 Flandreau defeated No. 6 Estelline-Hendricks 67-44 in Flandreau.

Clark-Willow Lake (11-10) visits Hamlin (18-3) and Flandreau (14-7) plays Sioux Valley (19-2) at Volga in semifinal games scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday.

Easton Neuendorf poured in 30 points for No. 2-rated Hamlin, which also recevied 13 points from Evan Stormo, 10 from Tyson Stevenson and eight from Zac VanMeeteren. Ty Bergh recorded 11 points and James Schroeder eight for the Falcons (11-11).

Eighth-grader Sullivan Felberg and freshman Bo Begeman came up big for Clark-Willow Lake, which pulled away from a 31-31 tie after three quarters to beat GPL (13-8). Felberg canned five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 19 points. Sophomore Emmerson Larson contributed 13 and Begman 12. Alex Heil and Austin Rubendall each notched 13 points and Myles York eight for the Panthers.

No. 4-rated Sioux Valley rolled into the semfinals behind 17 points and six asssits from Maxwell Engebretson, 14 points from Maervick Nelson, 11 points from Alec Squires and nine points from Hudsyn Ruesink. Trey Maaland produced 14 points and Troy Jenson seven rebounds for Deuel (8-13).

Flandreau advanced with help from Luke Sheppard, 20 points and nine rebounds; Paul Parsley, 14 points and six rebounds, and Micah Otto, 11 points. Kyler Carlson finished with 10 points and Wyat James nine for the Redhawks (11-10).

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Region 6A

At host sites, No. 1 McLaughlin beat No. 8 North Central 50-31, No. 4 Mobridge-Pollock topped No. 5 Dupree 62-45, No. 2 Cheyenne-Eagle Butte beat No. 3 Miller 73-59 and No. 3 Stanley County held off No. 6 Crow Creek 66-63 in quarterfinal games on Tuesday.

In semifinal games on Friday, McLaughlin (15-6) will host Mobridge-Pollock (13-8) and Cheynne-Eagle Butte (13-7) welcomes Stanley County (14-7).

No statistics were reported from the McLaughlin-North Central and Miller/Cheyenne-Eagle Butte games. North Central and Miller each finished 6-15.

Michael Wald had 17 points, Shane Henderson 16 and Kale Knudson 11 for lead Mobridge-Pollock. Elijah Brewer and Jayden Marshall each scored 10 for Dupree (9-11).

Broch Zeeb poured in 24 points and Paxton Deal 21 to lead Stanley County. Kiran Thompson's 17 points and Lance Wind Jr.'s 13 paced Crow Creek (8-13).

Region 1B

The four seeds all won quarterfinal games on their home courts: No. 1 Leola-Frederick 70, No. 8 Wilmot 41; No. 4 Warner 57, No. 5 Hitchcock-Tulare 53; No. 2 Aberdeen Christian 67, No. 7 Northwestern 57 and No. 3 Waverly-South Shore 55, No. 6 Britton-Hecla 53 in OT.

Semifinal games on Friday include Warner (10-11) at Leola-Frederick Area (20-1), time to be determined; and Waverly-South Shore (15-6) at Aberdeen Christian (15-6), 7 p.m. in the Aberdeen Civic Arena.

Noah Kippley collected 21 poins, Brayden Sumption 14, Jace Thorpe nine and Gavin Nickelson eight for LFA. Thorpe also hauled in seven rebounds. Keitrick Genia scored 12 points and Zane Owen eight for Wilmot (6-16).

Waverly-South Shore prevailed with some help from Sam Appelhof, who scored 21 points and canned the game-tying field goal with 19 seconds left in regulation; and Cody Thompson, who scored the go-ahead layup with 19 seconds left in OT and went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line with 2.9 seconds left to make it 55-53. Britton-Hecla missed on a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. Zach Ries added 18 points for WSS. Ty Fagerland scored 16 points and Dawson Treeby 10 for Britton-Hecla (4-17).

Joey Johnson poured in 31 points for Aberdeen Christian. Luke Kaiser and Konnor Furman each added 12 and Becker Bosma eight. Nathan Melius poured in 28 points and Lincoln Woodring 17 for Northwestern (5-16).

A 16-point, 15-rebound performance by Brodey Sauerwein paced Warner, which also got 19 points from Jesiah Baum and 13 from Gavin Lane. Erik Salmen recorded 25 points and eight rebounds, Patrick Maynard 12 points an Brendan Nowell and Jackson Maynard eight points each for Hitchcock-Tulare (8-13).

Region 2B

No. 2 Castlewood, No. 3 Wolsey-Wessington and No. 4 Deubrook Area joined De Smet with quarterfinal wins on Tuesday.

De Smet, playing at home, rolled past No. 8 Arlington 72-34. Tom Aughenbaugh led the way with 21 points, Kadyn Fast added 10 and Tristan Olson and Grant Wilkinson eight apiece. Wilkinson and Fast each grabbed six rebounds. Paxton Rheault's 19 points topped Arlington (4-18).

In the other game at De Smet, Deubrook Area advanced with a 73-69 win over No. 5 James Valley Christian (11-10). No statistics were reported.

Host Castlewood moved on with a 73-43 win over Oldham-Ramona-Rutland. Jamison Keszler tallied 19 points, Bryon Laue 15, Lane Tvedt 14 and Quincy Thu nine. Boyd Pooler had 13 and Caden Hojer 10 for ORR (4-17).

In the other game at Castlewood, Wolsey-Wessington handled No. 6 Iroquois-Lake Preston 75-49. No other details were reported. The Sharks finished the season 4-17.

Semifinal games are set for Friday in the Huron Area. Three-time defending champion and third-rated De Smet (18-3) takes on Deubrook Area (11-10) at 6 p.m. and No. 1-rated Castlewood (18-3) meets Wolsey-Wessington (17-4) at 7;30 p.m.

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Region 6B

Faulkton Area advanced with a 61-35 win over No. 8 Herreid-Selby Area in game played at Faulkton. Layne Cotton had 15 points and seven rebounds, Charlie Dieter 14 points and 12 rebounds and Gian DiMaria 13 points for the Trojans. Trevor Gill garnered 12 points and seven rebounds for HSA (4-18).

In other quarterfinal games, No. 5 Highmore-Harrold beat No. 4 Ipswich 38-31 at Ipswich, No. 2 Potter County handled No. 7 Lyman 64-37 in Gettysburg and No. 3 Lower Brule cruised past No. 6 Sully Buttes 63-38 in a game played at Lower Brule.

Trake Cowan, with 19 points and 15 rebounds, and Carson Stephenson, with eight points paced Highmore-Harrold. Jace Konsor produced 12 points, Tucker Kadlec seven points and 10 rebounds and Chet Peterson seven points and nine rebounds for Ipswich (12-9).

No other details were reported for the other two games. Lyman finished 5-16 and Sully Buttes 9-12.

Semifinal games on Friday include Highmore-Harrold (12-9) at Faulkton Area (15-5) and Lower Brule (11-9) at Potter County (14-7). Times have not be posted.

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Tuesday region quarterfinal games for Class A and B boys basketball teams