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'We want to do it for Coop' - Devastating injury fuels Sioux Falls Christian championship aspirations
Sioux Falls Christian players huddle up during the Chargers' 59-40 victory over Lennox in the state semifinals. SFC takes on Hamlin in the State A championship game Saturday at 7:45 p.m.
(Libby Stene / 605 Sports)

'We want to do it for Coop' - Devastating injury fuels Sioux Falls Christian championship aspirations

Mar 22, 2025
  

 

By Jon Akre

605 Sports

SIOUX FALLS — Sioux Falls Christian will take the floor tonight in the Class A state championship without a key piece to the top-ranked Chargers’ arsenal.

During Thursday’s opening game of the 2025 Class A boys state basketball tournament, the Chargers took on No. 8 Groton Area. Midway through the fourth quarter, an out-of-bounds play would be the last moments of the season for SFC’s Cooper Goodbary.

“I got a screen set on me, and I went to get through it,” said Goodbary. “I kind of hit my legs with him and my knee twisted and I kind of felt something pop.”

Goodbary went down for a few minutes before being helped off the floor to the bench. The Chargers took home the 66-41 win over the Tigers, but Cooper’s injury overshadowed the excitement from the opening round victory.

“Last night after the game it was really somber in our locker room and it was that way today at our shootaround too and it was that way before our game,” said SFC head coach Mike Schouten. “Normally the guys are loose and playing music, but it was quiet in the locker room so I was pretty worried.”

Sioux Falls Christian's Cooper Goodbary (0) and Griffen Goodbary (22) defend Groton Area's Becker Bosma (5) during the Chargers' 66-41 win over the Tigers during the Class A state boys basketball tournament in Sioux Falls. (Libby Stene / 605 Sports)

Cooper, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, saw increased minutes this season that only made the injury hurt that much more in the Chargers quest for a championship.

“He’s been one of our better defensive players, our third leading scorer, our second leading rebounder,” said Schouten. “He brings a lot to the table.”

In his junior campaign, Cooper is averaging 12 points and five rebounds per contest trailing only his brother Griffen and Brant Wassenaar in points, shooting an efficient 64% from the field.

“He’s gotten a much bigger role this year and I think that a lot of people can see how that’s changed our team,” said Griffen. “I think we’re much more well-rounded than last year, and he’s just made a huge impact.”

In terms of the emotions from Thursday’s matchup, coach Schouten wasn’t sure how his team would respond to dealing with the adversity behind Cooper’s injury, but was impressed with their 71-51 semifinal win over Dak-XII Conference foe Lennox.


“Were they going to snap out of that and be able to get locked in and play basketball,” said Schouten. “I was really happy, very proud of them for how they responded. From the tip they were ready to go. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen but they responded really well, so I'm very proud of them.”

Carson Nickles, a 6-foot-2 junior sixth man, was thrust into the starting lineup for Friday’s game and filled his role about as well as anybody could've. Nickles scored 11 points shooting a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, adding four rebounds, three assists and zero turnovers in 26 minutes of work.

“Carson has started a few games for us this year cause we’ve had injury problems all year, so this wasn’t a big moment for him,” said Schouten. “He played on our team last year and he’s a very good shooter. To see him knocking down 3’s is not unusual, in fact it’s probably more unusual if they don’t go in.”

It’s been an especially emotional weekend for the Goodbary brothers who played their final moments of high school basketball together, but Griffen, a senior, and the rest of the Chargers are rallying around Cooper to deliver a championship.

“It sucks but we’re kind of all rallying together,” said Griffen. “We want it more now. We want to do it for Coop because he really wanted this, so with him not being on the court we just want to do it for him.”

Sioux Falls Christian takes on the defending state champion Hamlin Chargers Saturday at 7:45 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s Class A state championship, a 53-50 victory for Hamlin.

“It was pretty emotional for me but I know that they’ve got my back and I know that they’re going to play for me, and I have confidence in them,” said Cooper. “They have a lot of God-given abilities, and I know that they’re going to go out and play with Him to glorify Him. I just think they’re going to use me as motivation to get it done.”

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