South Dakota Playoff Central – Welcome March Madness!
Playoff games around the state are being played tonight meaning Playoff Central is now on the front page. Welcome March Madness!
The Big Stage. There are three games that grabbed my interest the most this evening and they are as follows:
- Vermillion (15-5) vs Canton (11-9). An excellent 4/5 game, the Tanagers defeated Canton 69-61 last week. For Canton you have explosive scorer Kayden Verley (had 30 in the match-up on February 24th) but Vermillion is the deeper group of players led by junior guard Jakob Dobney, a do it all six footer.
- Gregory (13-6) vs Burke (16-4). Another 4/5 game, the Gorillas of Gregory try and defeat the Cougars of Burke for the second time this season. Six-foot-5 grade 8 standout Damien Mitchell and senior Tommy Determan both recorded double-doubles of 19 and 11. Burke wasn’t able to slow them around the basket earlier, can they tonight?
- Ethan (15-5) vs Elkton-Lake Benton (14-6). Ethan enters the evening winners of seven straight while the Elks dropped a pair of games to top ten Class B teams to finish the season. Record wise it gets not better than this for a first round contest.
Upset City! There was nothing major upset wise in the pigtail games last night but it is interesting to note that 9 seeds were 5-3 last night against Class B 8 seeds. The most interesting game though had to be 1 win Chester Area picking up their second victory of the year knocking off Oldham/Ramona-Rutland 46-32. Chester next has to face a top Class B state contender from Hanson.
Right on Schedule. Wall knocked off Phillip 62-51 in the 8/9 pigtail game of 7B. Senior center Andrew Law was a force putting up 18 points and 11 rebounds controlling the middle throughout the game. Kole Gallino, a senior averaging 12 and 7 each game, also had a double-double of 10 and 11 although a rough night shooting.
Tip of the Hat to the Career. Oldham/Ramona-Rutland 6-foot-3 senior Brandon Trygstad gave his team everything he had this year. The double-double is pretty much our theme today and Brandon recorded 13 of them this year including a 17 point, 14 rebound performance in last night’s loss. Brandon gave his team 14 points and 11 boards a contest this year.