MITCHELL — Saturday afternoon and Friday night shared the same plot for the Mitchell High School boys basketball team, with the only tangible difference being the antagonist.
In a rerun of a 26-point win over Sturgis from 18 hours before, a slow start swiftly gave way to a commanding performance, as the Kernels breezed by Spearfish 56-39 on Saturday at the Corn Palace.
After falling behind 5-4 at the midway point of the first quarter, the remainder of the half belonged firmly to the Kernels.
A 13-2 run to close the first quarter left Mitchell ahead 17-7. It was more of the same in the second quarter, as a 14-4 scoring edge resulted in a 31-11 halftime advantage. That margin was due in large part to the Kernels’ effort on defense, limiting Spearfish to 3 of 25 (12%) shooting in the opening 16 minutes.
“It was a really similar game (to Friday),” said Mitchell head coach Ryker Kreutzfeldt. “Our defense really took the game over in the first half. … We struggled offensively with turnovers, but our defense was really, really good tonight.”
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It was 42-23 after three quarters, and though Mitchell re-inserted its starters when the Spartans came within 16 points in the final frame, the result was never in doubt.
Markus Talley tossed in a game-high 20 points powered by six 3-pointers, providing a welcome boost to the Kernels early with 11 first-half points.
“Markus was a flamethrower tonight and he kind of carried us offensively,” Kreutzfeldt said.
Steele Morgan posted 14 points and seven rebounds, while Dylan Soulek recorded 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists for Mitchell.
Mitchell shot 20 of 42 (47.6%) for the afternoon, including 12 of 24 (50%) in the first half. Meanwhile, Spearfish finished 12 of 43 (27.9%) from the field.
“Now we have to get our offense going again,” Kreutzfeldt said. “But defense is where you win it. You can’t count on your offense every night, so we’re finding different ways to impact the game and that’s nice to see.”
Spearfish (4-8) was paced by 18 points from Seth Hamilton and 11 from Antonio Serrano. Dylon Doren had six points and seven rebounds, with Serrano also grabbing five boards.
The Kernels (11-3) are on the road for their only contest next week, a matchup with Aberdeen Central on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
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