SIOUX FALLS — A historic day for West River boys basketball teams continued Friday in Sioux Falls.

Hill City earned its first-ever victory at a state boys basketball tournament, notching a 4th quarter, double-digit comeback for a 68-63 victory inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

“It’s huge, it’s just exciting for the kids,” said Hill City head coach Laramie Harvey. “I told them that this is the first time we’ve ever qualified for a boys basketball state tournament, same goes with the win. For the rest of their lives they can tell people ‘We were the first’, and that’s something that will live with them forever. It’s just exciting, I’m excited for them.”

After a disappointing start to the Class A state tournament yesterday, the Rangers came out in the consolation semifinals with a chip on their shoulder with a performance that had no shortage of energy and emotion.

“We take huge pride in our energy. When our energy isn’t there we struggle,” said Harvey. “Last night we got down and we struggled, there was no energy. When Clark got up, whatever it was, to our credit we responded the other way today and just went on that run. It started with the rebounding, and that can make or break us.”

Through three quarters of back-and-forth basketball, Hill City entered the fourth down by six points. Clark-Willow Lake’s Bo Begeman started the final period converting an and-one with another layup from Emmerson Larson to push the lead to 11 with 7:05 to go.

After a HC timeout, the Rangers got to work on a comeback. Brayden Wilkinson knocked in a long ball, Dax Frandsen scored on back-to-back possessions, Zane Messick hit from long range before Frandsen buried a three as well to cap off a 13-0 run for the HC just over two minutes later.

“We all just played together,” said Messick on the win. "We haven't really had any blowout wins this year, we kind of like to make things interesting, and that was really big for us to just scrap through everything and come out with a win.”

The Cyclones sat in a 2-3 zone for most of the game, forcing the Rangers offense to find gaps in the defense and hit shots from the outside, something HC took advantage of during the comeback.

“Sitting in that zone, you got to shoot them out of it and we were able to do that,” said Messick. “Three-pointers allow you to crawl back into games, so that was really big for us.”

Messick and fellow-guard Devin Buehler were the catalysts to keeping the Rangers in it throughout the game. Messick led with 20 points and seven rebounds, shooting 5-for-12 from long range, while Buehler netted 17 points, six assists, three rebounds and three steals, shooting 3-for-4 from downtown.

With 1:47 to play, CWL guard Chris Bevers nailed a 3-pointer to tie it up at 63, but that would be the last basket of the game for the Cyclones. Everett Sullivan, Buehler and Messick each hit two free throws to seal it for the Rangers.

Sullivan tallied 13 points and seven rebounds in the win, tying Messick with seven rebounds in a game the guard-heavy Rangers were able to hold their own on the glass, outrebounding CWL 27-25.

“It’s no secret we’re not a big team and we got to go body up somebody every time a shot goes up,” said Harvey. “If we don’t, we’re not getting the rebounds and It’s not fun to play when you give teams 2-3-4 chances, so the glass was huge.”

Frandsen tallied nine points, two assists and two steals for the Rangers in the win as well.

CWL’s Bevers led the Cyclones with 21 points and three assists, Sully Felberg added 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists, Larson recorded 15 points while Begeman netted 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

In addition to the first-ever state tourney win, the victory also marks the 20th of the season, the most in program history.

“We’re just happy to be here. It’s the first time in school history so it’s kind of just an exciting thing,” Messick said. “Nobody expected us to even win a game so it’s just fun to be able to play in this atmosphere, and have a shot at the consolation championship.”

The Rangers take on West Central at 1:45 p.m. in the Class A consolation championship.