HURON - The Huron Tigers have punched their ticket for the state AA boys basketball tournament by defeating Rapid City Central, 76-70, on Tuesday night at Huron Arena.
The Tigers (14-9 overall) now await the bracketing of the tournament, however, the Huron coaching staff believes the Tigers will be the No. 6 seed and will probably play Sioux Falls Roosevelt in the final game of the quarterfinals next Thursday night in Rapid City.
Tiger coach Tim Buddenhagen said that his players willed this victory, and the fact that there was no big run or meltdown supports that along with multiple lead changes and the biggest lead before the fourth quarters was only four points.
"In the second half we just imposed our will," said Buddenhagen, referring to the battle between the inside game of the Cobblers versus the full-court outside game of the Tigers.
Huron did not take control until the final quarter as they erased a two-point deficit, and they did it by gradually pulling away. Senior Jordan Buddenhagen and sophomore Terrell Newton keyed the attack offensively as they scored 17 of the Tigers' 27 points in the quarter.
The pair combined with the first basket of the quarter to tie the game at 51 as Buddenhagen drove the lane and found Newton open for a lay-up. After a Cobbler turnover, Jordan Buddenhagen then hit a 3-pointer to give Huron a 54-51 lead.
The teams traded baskets - with Huron's coming from Jay Salter - and the Tigers also got the next basket as Newton scored on a lay-up after a Salter steal, one of his four steals in he game.
The Cobblers answered with a 3-point play from Sims to cut the lead to 58-56.
Then in a bizarre turn of events, Sims drew a foul on Salter, but Sims then picked up a technical foul.
Both teams made their respective free throws, but the Cobblers lost possession of the ball, and Buddenhagen gave the Tigers their largest lead of the game, 63-58, when he hit his second 3-pointer of the quarter. He made 5-of-8 for the game and finished with 19 points. The teams traded baskets again as Sims scored another two of his 31 points, while the Tigers got two from Newton who finished with 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Logan Korkow then got a steal, one of his four, to put Buddenhagen at the line with two minutes and 46 seconds to play. He hit one-of-two free throws to push the lead to six and then after a steal and a lay-up by Newton, Huron increased its lead to eight, 68-60, with 2:17 on the clock.
The Tigers then held on, making just enough free throws to keep a five-to-six point lead the rest of the way. Huron took care of the ball better in the game with 19 more assists, 10 fewer turnovers and six more steals which offset a 30-19 rebounding advantage by the Cobblers.
Rapid City (8-15) used their inside game early. Huron led after one-quarter but trailed 36-33 at the half as Rapid City Central dominated on the interior as they shot 46 percent and began building an advantage in rebounding as they finished with 12 offense rebounds to Huron's 14 defensive rebounds.
The trio of Evan Sims, Caleb Grenz and Walter Jones combined for 32 of the 36 first half points for Rapid City. The trio shot well, rebounded well and when put on the free-throw line made 10-of-12 to build the three-point halftime lead.
