The Britton-Hecla boys basketball put an end to a three-game slide with a pair of wins in the past week, stopping Langford Area 54-23 on Friday and getting past Sisseton 45-37 last week Tuesday.
This week Coach Troy Knecht’s club took an 11-5 record into a game with third-ranked Clark-Willow Lake last night Tuesday. Monday the Braves travel to Waverly to meet Waverly-South Shore, and Tuesday go to Lake Norden to tangle with fourth-ranked Hamlin.
Britton-Hecla 54
Langford Area 23
Britton-Hecla hit five straight three-pointers and outscored Langford Area 22-3 during a six-minute stretch in the first and second quarters to take control of the cross-county rivalry game.
“We got off to a great start on offense and defensively played with a lot of energy,” said Knecht. “It was fun to see the boys hit shots and move the ball as well as they did. In the second half our offense wasn’t as fluid but we really clamped down on defense so it all worked out. Holding Kassen Keough to one field goal on the night was really something. He’s one of the best scoring guards on our schedule….the guys understood the assignment and executed. That’s two games now that we’ve played with high intensity and confidence. Hopefully we can keep that going.”
The game was tied 5-5 early when Mitch Burger kicked off the run, converting a turnover into a fastbreak bucket with 4:21 remaining in the opening period. Ben Folkman opened the three-point barrage, Jack Teveldal, Will Richter, and Burger followed with treys, and Folkman hit his third from downtown in the opening 10 minutes to give the Braves a 27-8 lead with 5:43 left in the second quarter.
Graydon Hurley, who had a trio of treys and led the Lions with 12 points, scored eight points in the second quarter but LA went into halftime down 34-16. B-H sealed the deal by outscoring the visitors 11-2 in the third quarter behind a pair of Richter fielders and a Lofton Heer trey.
Jaxon Zuehlke led the Braves with 13 points, nine rebounds, and six steals. Richter netted nine and had five assists, and Ben Folkman added nine counters.
Conner Glines pulled down 10 rebounds and had three blocked shots for the Lions. Kassen Keough grabbed six boards, two assists, and a pair of steals.
Britton-Hecla 45
Sisseton 37
Britton-Hecla put together a 10-2 run in the final five minutes of the third period to grab a 39-30 lead at the break and held Sisseton off down the stretch to break a three-game losing streak.
The Braves found themselves in an early 15-7 hole a minute into the second stanza but a pair of treys from Ben Folkman and another from Will Richter fueled a 20-10 run that gave B-H a 27-25 lead at intermission.
Sisseton opened the second half with a three-pointer to go back up 28-27 but that would be the last lead for the Redmen. Richter hit a couple of fielders and Lofton Heer sunk a trey just before the buzzer to give the Braves a 39-30 lead with a quarter to play. Sisseton did cut the margin to 42-37 with 4:05 to play but didn’t score again.
“I thought we had a really good night defensively in this one,” said Knecht. “We had great intensity throughout the game as well, which is something we talked about. The Flute kid (Derrick Flute) had a barrage of threes early. We weren’t locating him in the zone like we should’ve been. We made an adjustment at halftime and in the second half held them to 12 points. Sisseton has been scoring it pretty well so I’ve got to commend the boys for that effort.
“Offensively we were good in the middle two quarters,” Knecht noted. “We didn’t get a lot of shots up (40) but we were efficient from the three-point line (5-9) which really helps. I’d like to see our free-throw percentage go up and we need to find a way to get more transition baskets. No matter what the stat line reads, though, this was a big win for us when it comes to region seeding.”
Nathan Folkman had 14 points and five rebounds and Richter netted 14 to lead the Braves. Jaxon Zuehlke grabbed 10 rebounds and Mitchell Burger dished out five assists. Regular starters Chaz Vietor and Graham Fosness did not play in the game due to injuries.
FOR FULL STATS SEE THIS WEEK'S JOURNAL
