Beavers beat Wolsey-Wessington in cosolation action

ABERDEEN — It was far from a masterpiece, but state basketball tournament wins still have a nice shine to them.

In a game where both teams had numerous chances to capture victory, Hanson outlasted Wolsey-Wessington 38-36 in Class B boys’ consolation action of the at the state tournament Friday at Wachs Arena.

“And the end there, I said, ‘Who the heck wants to win this game? Does anybody want to win?’ It was just a crazy game,” Hanson coach Josh Oltmanns said.

Neither team scored in the final minute and a half.

Little did anyone know when Hanson’s Jordan Marquardt made two free throws with 1:33 left, it would prove to be the winning points.

Wolsey-Wessington had four possessions after that, three of which resulted in turnovers, including one in its final possession in the closing seconds.

“At the end we had a couple of chances to get good shots off and we passed on them, maybe looking for better shots,” Wolsey-Wessington coach Gordon Hooks said. “I don’t know what the situation is, but we just didn’t take the shot.”

Meanwhile, Hanson had a difficult time delivering the dagger on its last three possessions, committing two turnovers and missing two free throws.

“I think you saw two teams that probably wish they were playing (in the semifinals),” Oltmanns said. “It wasn’t very pretty, but to make up for what we lacked in basketball skills, we made up for in getting after it, toughness and loose balls.”

There were plenty of loose balls on the day as the Warbirds harassed Hanson into 22 turnovers. That made getting the ball inside a tough task for the Beavers.

“They were all over our guards, which made it hard to get it into the post,” said Hanson’s Jacob Bartscher, who finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. “That was the main struggle we had.”

Bartscher said the Warbirds were even more aggressive than they were in a regular-season contest that Hanson won by seven points.

“You could tell they were a little more on their feet, aggressive, getting after the guards even more,” Bartscher said.

Wolsey-Wessington owned a 19-10 lead in the second quarter, before Hanson responded with nine straight points to close out the half and tie the game.

Oltmanns still isn’t sure how his players managed to knot the score.

“Geez, it was ugly,” he said. “Somehow we found a way to score nine points.”

The second half was a back-and-forth battle with nine lead changes.

In the end, it came down to opportunities and missed chances.

Hanson had a season high in turnovers, surrendered a dozen offensive rebounds and survived a nearly seven-minute scoring drought in the opening half.

While the Warbirds had 12 offensive rebounds, they failed to score on any of those extra possessions and went scoreless for the final 2:14.

“Things just didn’t go our way,” Hooks said. “I think both teams had their chances. It just didn’t go our way.”

Jalen Boomsma finished with 12 points, four assists and five steals before fouling out with two minutes to go to pace Wolsey-Wessington. The Warbirds (20-5) face Dupree for seventh place at noon today.

Marquardt led Hanson with 14 points. The Beavers (19-6) square off against Castlewood for fifth place at 1:45 p.m. today.

“We’re just going to do what we’ve been doing all year,” Bartscher said. “Hopefully, we can come out on top.”

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