SIOUX FALLS -- The road to back-to-back Class A state championships for Dakota Valley was rocky on Saturday night.
But Panthers got it done, outdueling No. 3-seeded Sioux Falls Christian 54-48 for a second consecutive state championship and a Class A-record 53rd win in a row at the Premier Center.
A game with eight ties and eight lead changes tipped in the Panthers’ favor in the final minutes of the game, thanks to strong defense from Dakota Valley and timely scoring, despite the high-flying Panthers being held from more than 20 points below their season scoring average of 77.4 points per game.
“Close games, that’s where we thrive. We have a bunch of veterans and experienced players,” Isaac Bruns said. “We got it done.”
After a 26-24 halftime lead for the Chargers, SFC ran the lead out to nine points early in the second half for its largest lead of the night. But Dakota Valley worked the lead down late in the period and tied the game at 42 before the final eight minutes.
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The decisive play came from Rosenquist with 3:49 remaining with a basket in the paint, putting the Panthers ahead 46-45 and retaining the lead for good. Of the 12 points scored in the fourth quarter, all but two came from Rosenquist and fellow senior star Isaac Bruns. The outlier was a putback basket by Jaxson Wingert after three offensive rebounds to stretch the lead to 53-48 with 45 seconds remaining.
Meanwhile, Sioux Falls Christian got its final field goal with 7:16 remaining and couldn’t muster enough offense late in the game.
“We were hoping that we could have pulled off the big upset. That was our goal and our guys gave all they had,” Sioux Falls Christian coach Mike Schouten said. “(Dakota Valley) just made a few more plays and in the end, that hurt us. … We just had two periods tonight where we went a long time without making a basket and one of those was in the fourth quarter.”
Dakota Valley was led by Bruns, who had 22 points and seven rebounds and Rosenquist finished with 18 points. For the Chargers, Ethan Bruns had a team-high 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Cole Snyder added seven points for the Chargers.
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