SIOUX FALLS — St. Thomas More looked like a state champion for one half of basketball Saturday night at the Sioux Falls Arena. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, Madison looked like a state champion in the half that really mattered.
The Bulldogs held More to just 17 second-half points to come from behind and win their second straight Class A boys basketball championship, 58-47.
“I just thought they started missing some shots,” Madison head coach Michael Ricke said of the Cavaliers in the second half. “That was the difference to me. I told our guys at halftime that if (More) continued to shoot the ball like they did in the first half in the second we were probably going to have a hard time.”
The Cavaliers led 30-23 at the half after Liam Duffy and Conor Casey combined for 21 first-half points, but the Bulldogs rallied in the third quarter, cutting the More lead to one, 38-37, heading into the final stanza.
“That’s a great team over there,” More head coach Dave Hollenbeck said. “They did a great job of defending, wore us out a little in the second half and took our legs from us. On top of that they hit 26-of-27 free throws. They deserved to win the game. It goes without saying, but coach Ricke has done a great job with that program.”
Madison senior Derrick Wiebe said that his team may have been a little intimidated at the start.
“We just came out in the second half with more confidence,” Wiebe said. “We came out, I felt, kind of scared. St. Thomas More is a classy team, they don’t make a lot of mistakes. I thought we almost felt intimidated by them, but we came out in that third quarter strong and confident and I thought that was the difference.”
More fell behind 44-43 when Wiebe converted an old-fashioned three-point play and the ‘Dogs never trailed after that point. More got numerous attempts at a game-tying 3-pointer, but Duffy, Jared Jacobson and Skye Warwick were all off the mark.
“I thought our guys played hard,” Hollenbeck said. “We just didn’t get one of those big shots to fall. That happens sometimes.”
The Cavaliers were looking to win their first state title since winning back-to-back championships in 2006 and 2007, but instead watched as the Bulldogs cut down the nets for the second season in a row. This one was a little less expected as Madison came into the season having to replace all-state performers Chad White and Tony Fiegen from last year. White and Fiegen are playing at South Dakota State this season.
“It’s unbelievable,” Wiebe said. “We expected a lot out of ourselves at the beginning of the season, but not a lot of other people expected much out of us. Being able to come back this year and be as good as we were is just an amazing feeling.”
Wiebe scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Madison (25-1 overall) while Mitch White led all Bulldog scorers with 16 points. Michael Sullivan added 10 points, including two big jump shots in the second half. Without Sullivan’s heroics the night before the Bulldogs may not have even made it to the championship tilt. He hit three monster 3-pointers in the second half of the Bulldogs’ win over McCook Central/Montrose on Friday night to propel his team to the win.
Duffy led St. Thomas More (23-3 overall) in scoring with 17 points and Casey had 10. More shot just 16-for-46 from the floor for the game, including 8-for-33 from behind the 3-point arc. Wiebe, White, Sullivan, Duffy, Casey and Jacobson were all named to the all-tournament team.
