Platte-Geddes falls in state-title game

RAPID CITY — Platte-Geddes faced a very familiar foe Saturday night in the championship game at the Class A tournament.

The Panthers took on Madison in the 2008 title game and won, and P-G also beat the Bulldogs earlier this year at the Hanson Classic.

The P-G and Madison seniors have been rivals since the third grade, and it was only fitting that they meet one final time for the Class A title.

But there would be no storybook ending for Platte-Geddes, which won the school’s first-ever boys’ basketball title last season and was looking to claim another one Saturday.

Madison edged the Black Panthers 48-40 for the Class A title Saturday at the state high school boys’ basketball tournament in Rapid City. The title was the first for the Bulldogs since 1945.

“It’s nothing to do with beating this team, it’s everything to do with just winning a state title,” Madison coach Michael Ricke said of his team’s win. “It’s fitting that we would do it against this team. I don’t think it would be the same if we would have beaten another team. It was something we needed to do to come full circle for ourselves.”

The Black Panthers jumped to a 4-0 lead to start the game, but after that were never able to secure a solid lead. Madison led after each of the first three quarters, and P-G didn’t have an answer for 6-foot-8 Tony Fiegen or 6-foot-7 Chad White.

Jordan Johnson hit two free throws to cut the lead to three, 33-30, to start the final quarter, but Derrick Wiebe scored back-to-back buckets and Jarret Janke added a third basket for a 39-30 Madison lead.

Johnson and Audie Kuipers scored on back-to-back possessions to make it a four-point game, and Fiegen and Keith Cutler exchanged baskets, but Cutler’s basket at 2:17 was the last time the Panthers scored until Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left.

The Bulldogs, in the meantime, went 7-for-8 from the line. Fiegen alone was 5-for-6 from the line in the final 47 seconds.

“They made more shots than we did,” P-G coach Frank Cutler said. “It just came down to making more shots. I thought we had great looks in the first half and we just didn’t put enough in.”

After P-G grabbed its early lead, Madison went on a 7-0 run sparked by a White 3-pointer to snag a lead it would never give up. Madison led 12-8 after the first quarter. The Panthers kept the game close in the second and Cutler cut the gap to two, 21-19, with a three-point play late in the quarter, but White hit two free throws and Madison hit another basket to head into the locker room up 25-19.

Johnson cut the deficit to two again in the third quarter, 27-25, but White hit a layup and two free throws and Fiegen drove the lane for a basket to extend the lead to 33-25. Keith Cutler hit a 3-pointer to cut into the gap, but he and Johnson both missed long-range shots later in the quarter and Madison led 33-28 heading into the final quarter.

“We made a little run in the third quarter and had a 3-pointer that was just off the mark,” Frank Cutler said. “That would give us the lead, and I think maybe the momentum turns if we make that, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

Johnson led the way for the Panthers with 16 points and five assists. Keith Cutler added 13 points before fouling out late in the game and Collin Ringling had seven rebounds. Cutler and Johnson were both named to the all-tournament team.

The Platte-Geddes cheerleaders won the Spirit of Six award.

“We’ve had great success,” Frank Cutler said of his seniors. “We don’t have anything to hang our heads about. We had a great run, we just came up short to a great team.”

Tags: rapid city, sports, platte-geddes, madison