PHD’s Three Up, Three Down

<p>Here are three South Dakota squads on the rise and surprise, and three others that need to get a victory to turn things around. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Three Up</strong></p> <p>Harrisburg. The Tigers are a veteran team that has won all six of their games.  Roosevelt and Washington are coming up soon and Harrisburg looks ready for that level of competition.  Harrisburg has beaten good teams from out of state but they haven’t faced a team with a winning record in South Dakota.  [player_tooltip player_id="975505" first="Conner" last="Geddes"] and [player_tooltip player_id="975581" first="Blaze" last="Lubbers"] led the team the most recent game scoring wise, while [player_tooltip player_id="975537" first="Hayden" last="Muirhead"] has been the leader in others.  Geddes is off to a great start for this balanced team. </p> <p>Mobridge-Pollock. The Tigers are not only 8-0, they have beaten the energy out of their last three opponents including an 80-51 win over Potter County.  Braden Goehring had a 30 point explosion in that game while fellow senior [player_tooltip player_id="975620" first="Bryston" last="Goehring"] had eight steals plus nine scores.  The Goehrings have this team in Class A’s top ten.  </p> <p>Faith. There are three undefeated teams in Class B basketball and the Faith Longhorns are one of them (along with Canistota and Platte-Geddes). They opened the season hammering opponents and have recently outfight Timber Lake and Harding County. Six-foot-4 [player_tooltip player_id="975549" first="Tyson" last="Selby"] is the Faith star and he’s got a chance to push for All State this year at the Class B level. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Three Down</strong></p> <p>Sioux Falls Roosevelt. The Rough Riders were the number one ranked team coming into the season because of their depth of returning, experienced talent.  Expectations were high and Roosevelt has not lived up to them.  Part of that is losing to a good Washington team twice.  Losing to Washington in a close game one team really wasn’t a big deal but the second loss seems a bit troubling.  Especially with the upset loss to Huron in there too.  Things won’t get easier with Brandon Valley and Harrisburg coming up next, and those are games Roosevelt really needs to get a win against. </p> <p>Parkston. The Trojans have beaten all the teams they’ve played with losing records and been defeated by all squads .500 and over.  They are who they are right now.  Hanson and Vermillion beat Parkston in ugly ways lately and now Parkston has to try and defeat Wagner who is on a four game winning streak. </p> <p>Wessington Springs. Wessington Springs started the season undefeated and were considered a team that could be a top ten Class B ranked squad.  They lost a close game to Highmore-Harrold 63-64 and followed that with tough losses to Ethan and Clark/Willow Lake.  They recently trudged through a win versus MVP and need to take a step back to their potential.  [player_tooltip player_id="975504" first="Jacob" last="Messmer"] is one of the better seniors in Class B and he should have this team playing at a high level soon.   </p>