MHS boys pick up 5th win, beat Aberdeen

ABERDEEN — Mitchell used a player’s career-high to forge back-to-back conference wins.

One night after toppling Watertown, one of the Eastern South Dakota Conference’s top teams, Mitchell (5-13, 5-9 ESD) followed up with a 62-52 win over Aberdeen Central (5-11, 3-9 ESD) on Friday in high school boys’ basketball played at Golden Eagles Arena. It marked the second time this season that the Kernels put together consecutive wins.

With just two regular-season games left on its schedule, Mitchell is starting to play better.

“What we were missing was probably our best player in Seth Cavanaugh,” Mitchell coach Tom Young said. “He was out with an injury and he’s back. He brings a steadiness to our team. In the last month we’ve gotten better. We still make some mistakes.”

Mitchell senior Cole Morgan, who recorded a career and season-high of 25 points, started the game by going 4-of- 5 from the three-point area in the first half.

“For them, Morgan was big,” Central coach Brent Norberg said. “I don’t know what he averages for points, but I’m pretty sure he hasn’t had 25 in a game. You have to give him credit. We didn’t find him and he made us pay.”

Morgan drained three of the long-range shots to open the second quarter and the Kernels took a 31-19 lead at halftime. Mitchell shot 61 percent from the field in the first half and Aberdeen managed just 35 percent.

“We didn’t take care of the ball and didn’t play with any confidence,” Norberg said. “It started because defensively, we didn’t have any intensity. We just didn’t rise to the challenge. We needed to rise up to win a big game. Hopefully, next time we will.”

Morgan’s sixth 3-pointer of the game ended the third quarter with Mitchell leading 40-30. Young noted that Mitchell had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter for the first time this season.

“I’m proud of our kids,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for Aberdeen. They have some good players. They can put a bunch of points up in a hurry with their three-point shooting. We needed to win this game for our confidence.”

Both teams scored 22 points in the fourth quarter as Mitchell tried to drain time off the clock and Aberdeen Central picked up the pressure full court.

“We definitely could have had a letdown after beating Watertown,” Young said. “I challenged the kids to come out and play hard and they did. They answered it pretty well.”

In addition to Morgan’s 25 points, Cavanaugh added 21 points and grabbed up 10 rebounds.

Aberdeen leaders included Brady Mohr with 17 points and Aaron Lorenz with 11 points.

Aberdeen Central and Mitchell are both battling for the third spot in District 3AA. The Golden Eagles have held the No. 3 position for much of the season, but the Kernels have drawn closer with the two wins.

According to the South Dakota High School Activities Association website, after Friday’s loss, Central has a seed point average of 15.63 to Mitchell’s 14.71.

The Kernels’ remaining games are against Huron and Yankton. The Golden Eagles schedule has Sioux Falls Roosevelt, Brandon Valley and Pierre.

“(Friday) was a big game,” Norberg said. “When Mitchell beat Watertown, it really became big and we didn’t answer the bell.”

Aberdeen Central returns to action on Tuesday, hosting Sioux Falls Roosevelt in a nonconference game at Golden Eagles Arena. Mitchell entertains Huron on Feb. 16 in an ESD matchup.

MITCHELL 62, ABERDEEN 52

MHS (5-13, 3-9 ESD)

Cole Morgan 7-9 4-4 25, Zach Moen 1-1 0-0 2, Seth Cavanaugh 4-8 10-12 21, Beau Brown 3-8 2-5 8, Josh Schmidt 0-11-2 1, Jared Schmidt 0-1 0-0 0, Ethan Jones 1-3 3-4 5, Evan Mastel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-32 20-27 62.

AHS (5-11, 3-9 ESD)

Josh Hilgemann 1-3 5-6 7, Carter Paulson 2-6 1-1 5, Braden LeGrand 4-10 0-2 8, Brady Mohr 4-14 8-12 17, Aaron Lorenz 4-9 0-0 11, Jacob Goehring 1-3 0-0 2, Logan LeGrand 1-2 0-0 2, Tyler Block 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-48 14-21 52.

MHS 15 31 40 62

AHS 9 19 30 52

3-point field goals: Mitchell 10-18 (Morgan 7-9, Cavanaugh 3-6, Brown 0-1, Schmidt 0-1, Jones 0-1); Aberdeen 4-19 (Hilgemann 0-1, B. LeGrand 0-1, Mohr 1-8, Lorenz 3-7, Goehring 0-1, L. LeGrand 0-1). Fouled out — B. LeGrand. Total fouls — Mitchell 17; Aberdeen 24. Rebounds — Mitchell 26 (Cavanaugh 10); Aberdeen 27 (Hilgemann 5, B. LeGrand 5, Mohr 5). Turnovers — Mitchell 22; Aberdeen 17. Assists — Mitchell 5 (Brown 3); Aberdeen 7 (B. LeGrand 2, Mohr 2). Steals — Mitchell 7 (Moen 2, Cavanaugh 2, Jones 2); Aberdeen 8 (Mohr 3). Blocked shots — Mitchell 1 (Schmidt 1); Aberdeen 2 (Mohr 2). Officials — Landon Arnold, Seth Katus, Bryan Zahn.

JV: Mitchell 48, Aberdeen Central 37; Ryker Kruetzfeldt and Derek Miller had 12 points each.

Sophomores: Mitchell 48, Aberdeen Central 38; Tyler Houwman had 16 points and Jaron Weich added 10.

Freshmen A: Aberdeen Central 59, Mitchell 41 Gray Determan had 15 points.

Freshmen B: Aberdeen Central 56, Mitchell 32 Landon Dierks finished with 16 points.

Tags: sports, updates, mitchell, basketball