State Tournament Preview – Yankton vs Mitchell

<p>A week from today the South Dakota State Tournament will be played.  For the next seven days we will dive into the individual match-ups inside the biggest games.  We start with Mitchell vs Yankton. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Team Profiles</strong></p> <p><strong>Yankton</strong></p> <p>Seed/Rank/Record:  2/2/18-3</p> <p>Top 3 Wins: Roosevelt, O’Gorman, Mitchell</p> <p>The 3 Ls:  Washington, Harrisburg, Brandon Valley</p> <p>Previous Meeting: Yankton beat Mitchell 53-44. [player_tooltip player_id="732175" first="Matthew" last="Mors"] scored 33 points while [player_tooltip player_id="812199" first="Caden" last="Hinker"] and [player_tooltip player_id="975543" first="Zane" last="Alm"] had 12 and 11 points respectively. </p> <p><strong>Mitchell</strong></p> <p>Seed/Rank/Record:  7/5/15-6</p> <p>Top 3 Wins: Brandon Valley, Harrisburg, Aberdeen Central</p> <p>The 3 Ls of Note:  Pierre, SFOG, Yankton</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>The Match-Ups (Yankton - Mitchell)</strong></p> <p>PG: [player_tooltip player_id="963752" first="Rugby" last="Ryken"] (5’11 Soph) vs [player_tooltip player_id="975560" first="Ben" last="Helleloid"] (6’0 Sr) - Edge - <strong>Yankton</strong></p> <p>SG: [player_tooltip player_id="975548" first="Aidan" last="Feser"] (6’0 Sr) vs [player_tooltip player_id="975602" first="Lucas" last="Moller"] (5’11 Sr) - Edge - <strong>Mitchell</strong></p> <p>SF: [player_tooltip player_id="975562" first="Trevor" last="Fitzgerald"] (6’0 Sr) vs [player_tooltip player_id="963805" first="Dylan" last="Soulek"] (6’0 Soph) - Edge - <strong>Yankton</strong></p> <p>PF: [player_tooltip player_id="968184" first="Jaden" last="Kral"] (6’4 Jr) vs [player_tooltip player_id="812199" first="Caden" last="Hinker"] (6’6 Jr) - Edge - <strong>Mitchell</strong></p> <p>C:  [player_tooltip player_id="732175" first="Matthew" last="Mors"] (6’7 Sr) vs [player_tooltip player_id="975543" first="Zane" last="Alm"] (6’10 Sr) - Edge - <strong>Yankton</strong></p> <p>6th Man: Dylan Prouty (5’11 Jr) vs [player_tooltip player_id="968222" first="Gavyn" last="Degen"] (6’0 Jr) - Edge - <strong>Yankton</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>The Match-Up to Watch</strong></p> <p>The player defending [player_tooltip player_id="812199" first="Caden" last="Hinker"] for much of the previous game was [player_tooltip player_id="975562" first="Trevor" last="Fitzgerald"].  The six-foot guard kept a hand in front of Hinker all game limiting Caden to 5 of 14 shooting from the floor.  Hinker was actually fine at the arc, it was Fitzgerald hounding the junior consistently whenever he stepped inside the arc. Caden had six boards and three assists and those numbers will be needed once again plus more scoring output.  If Fitzgerald puts together another defensive effort like the previous game - and his teammates are in the help spots they were - Yankton will get the win over the Kernels again. Especially if Mors runs wild. </p> <p>The future Wisconsin Badger went at Mitchell’s size scoring on 13 of 25 attempts including makes on half of his eight threes.  </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Prediction </strong></p> <p>Mitchell’s offense has been slipping.  In the past five contests they have scored just 51 points a game and that’s with their first 60 plus output in over a month (against Watertown).  Meanwhile the Bucks have won 11 of 12 and nobody is stopping Mors right now.  Throw in the motivation of Mors to earn his second state title and we should have a Bucks double figure win.</p> <p>Yankton 63 Mitchell 53</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>