SIOUX FALLS — The Mount Vernon/Plankinton boys basketball team couldn’t keep pace on Thursday night.
No. 3 Sioux Falls Christian cruised past the sixth-seeded Titans to an 83-55 Class A state quarterfinal victory on Thursday at the Premier Center. The 83 points allowed for SFC was a season-high for the Titans' defense.
Four players were in double figures for the Chargers, led by 19 points from Cole Snyder, who got it done on 8-for-10 shooting. Ethan Bruns had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Britton Mulder had 15 points and Griffen Goodbary had 10 points in the win, which saw SFC shoot 62.5% in the second half and score 47 points after halftime to seal the victory.
“I just don’t think we played with the confidence we’ve been playing with,” MVP coach Eric Denning said. “I don’t know if it was the stage or the opponent we were playing or what it was but we just weren't the same team we’ve been for the last month. That’s disappointing.”
The Titans led momentarily in the opening minutes 6-4 before the Chargers scored 12 points in a row and 14 of the last 16 in the period to lead 18-8 and the lead swelled to as many as 18 points before halftime.
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“I kind of felt we were a little sluggish to start the game and we might have had some first-game jitters,” SFC coach Mike Schouten said. “Our guys moved the ball and we started to get some open looks and fortunately, they started to go in.”
SFC regularly went to the paint on offense, earning a 50-32 edge in that stat and kept close defensive pressure on the other end of the court to keep MVP from getting comfortable.
“Sioux Falls Christian is a hard team to guard and they’re really good offensively,” Denning said. “I don’t take anything away from them. But as we struggled offensively and then our ability to guard the way we needed diminished, which can happen in a basketball game. But when you do that against a good team, it can get out of hand.”
Titans star Reed Rus drove the offense for the Titans, scoring 30 points on 13-for-27 shooting and nine rebounds.
“We felt we needed to try to contain him a little bit but he’s a great player, and great players get their points even when you want to stop them,” Schouten said. “We tried to help off some and try to give the guy guarding Reed a chance and he still found ways to get to the basket.”
Mason Hetland was the next leading scorer for MVP with six points, with Blaine Bohr and Jordan Stoltz each posting five points apiece. The Titans shot 40% from the field and were 6-for-14 on free throws, plus lost the rebounding battle, 37-27.
SFC (20-4) will take on fellow Dak-12 foe Elk Point-Jefferson in the Class A semifinals at 7:45 p.m. Friday night. The Chargers won the first meeting between the two teams played on Dec. 16 in Elk Point, a 69-51 SFC victory.
The Titans (18-6) will play on Friday against St. Thomas More, a team they faced at the DWU Classic on Feb. 11 and the Cavaliers won 68-57, with MVP ripping off six wins in a row from then until Thursday.
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