PHD Playoff Central – Top 5 Tuesday Night Games

<p>Tonight 16 teams will punch their tickets to the South Dakota State Tournament. What are the top five match-ups to watch? PHD breaks it down now!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>#3B Dell Rapids St. Mary vs #4B Elkton-Lake Benton </strong></p> <p>In what we feel is a state semi-final, maybe even Class B final caliber match-up in the round of 16, you have the Cardinals and the Elks. In our opinion these teams have earned their top four ranking in the state of South Dakota and both are traveling an extremely difficult road to the state tournament. A lot of tougher than others. The first time they played, the Elks won 76-70 but the Cards grabbed the second game 54-49. Now it’s the rubber match and all eyes will be on the <u>[player_tooltip player_id="975540" first="Matthew" last="Nibbe"] vs Ashaun Roach-Valenda</u> battle as both stand 6-foot-3/6-foot-4 at forward. Roach-Valenda approached a double-double both times with 23 in one game. Nibbe had 20 in the ELB win. The Elks may be a bit deeper but St. Mary has the star in Libis. He put up 32 and 24 in the previous two games.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Chamberlain vs #9A Flandreau</strong></p> <p>The Cubs finished the regular season on a three game losing streak although the competition was tough. Not that that’s anything new, the Cubs’ schedule had 14 teams that were .500 or better on it this year so that 15-4 record is still impressive. Flandreau also had a three game losing streak against good teams in February but they then finished the year with a huge win over Sioux Falls Christian. Tonight they face off for the first time this year. What do I have my eye on? Can 6-foot-7 junior <u>Sellyck McManus</u> get that 6-foot-7 length in front of 6-foot-5 <u>[player_tooltip player_id="812206" first="Tash" last="Lunday"]</u> and limit him?   Then in the backcourt [player_tooltip player_id="975544" first="Taryn" last="Ukestine"] versus [player_tooltip player_id="757863" first="Drayton" last="Priebe"] in the backcourt will be an excellent match-up of 6-foot-1 senior guards.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>#8B Platte-Geddes vs #9B Aberdeen Christian </strong></p> <p>There’s a core of Class B teams six or seven strong that have played one another several times and have all earned wins against one another. Both Platte-Geddes and Aberdeen Christian have some good wins but are looking to step into that big group with a key victory this evening. Most teams don’t have a player that can match-up with 6-foot-5 <u>[player_tooltip player_id="757853" first="Kelby" last="VanDerWerff"]</u> but the Knights have two guys in 6-foot-6 senior <u>[player_tooltip player_id="975542" first="Brent" last="Ekanger"]</u> and 6-foot-4 <u>[player_tooltip player_id="1130580" first="Jett" last="Becker"]</u> with the experience and ability to go at Kelby. Kelby will be the best big on the floor but the Knights have numbers to throw at him on bothe ends.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>#6A Winner vs #10A Mobridge-Pollock</strong></p> <p>This pair of top ten squads will be playing for the second time in a couple week span. Winner won 81-76 but the Tigers gave them a legit battle. <u>[player_tooltip player_id="975500" first="Brady" last="Fritz"]</u> scored 36 points in the first meeting highlighted by a five-three point night. With the support around him better, Fritz is taking less shots a game and his percentages are up (52 percent from the field, 43 percent at the arc). Fritz went at the Tigers making 12 of 21 attempts. The Tigers countered with <u>Cayden Eisemann</u> hitting five threes of his own and scoring 21. The Tigers need to make the Fritz attempts tougher plus they will need Eisemann, [player_tooltip player_id="975620" first="Bryston" last="Goehring"], Braden Goering, and junior Brady Bauer to all have solid nights.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>#5A St. Thomas More vs Madison</strong></p> <p>When you look at Madison – who is 13-8 – you see a team that was slow to get started but once they found a grove they knocked off all the teams they should beat, defeated some decent/average squads (Sisseton, Castlewood, Hamlin, Milbank, Parkston), and lately we’ve seen them beat some good teams (Flandreau, Viborg-Hurley). Now, can they step up and beat one of the state’s best (STM)? Madison has an 0-6 record against teams ranked in the Class A top eight and all the losses were by double digits. As far as the Cavs go, they beat Dell Rapids by ten and Tea Area by a dozen, teams that Madison lost to by 10 points and 27 points respectively.</p>