By Rich Winter

RAPID CITY — Tied at 6-6 early in Friday’s Lakota Nation Invitational semifinal, the White River Tigers dug in.

The Class B No. 1 Tigers went on a 19-0 run and never looked back on their way to a 52-43 win that pushed White River into Saturday’s championship game against Rapid City Christian.

“We just came out ready to go,” White River senior Joe Sayler said. “I think our guys wanted this game all weekend. We had a lot of energy and picked it up on the defensive side of the ball.”

Sayler celebrated his 18th birthday with a 20-point effort. He also finished with four assists, all of them going to TJ Beardt who also had 20 points.

“They came out doing that combo defense on Joe and we knew the middle would be open if they did that,” Eldon Marshall, White River coach said. “TJ took full advantage of that. We need him to step up this year with defense and rebounding and I think he did that tonight.” 

An early 3-pointer from Jordan Whirlwind Horse gave the Tatanka a 3-2 lead. Their last lead, 6-4 came on a 3-pointer from Kendrall Cuevas. After White River jumped out to the 25-6 lead Wakiyan Cuny broke an eight-minute scoring drought with a made free throw. 

“That’s what happens if you have the jitters,” Lakota Tech coach Corey Shangreaux said. “Our shots weren’t falling, they were rattling out and that hurt us early.” 

White River led 29-17 at intermission with Sayler having 13 points and Beardt 10 for the Tigers. 

Nic Marshall, who finished with 12 points for Whtie River hit an early, second-half floater to give the Tigers a 33-21 lead. Gavin Folkers drew an offensive foul from Cuevas, Sayler hit a 3-pointer and then found Beardt for a basket as White River led 38-21 with 11:40 remaining

Cuny’s 12-footer and a Nathan LeBeaux 3-pointer cut the lead to 40-29 at the 8:10 mark of the second half. The Tigers answered right back with a pair of made free-throws from Sayler and a basket from sophomore Mackenzie Wike.

Lakota Tech started to find the range late with a 3-pointer from Marvin Richard III. A Whirlwind Horse 3-pointer cut the margin to 50-43 forcing a timeout from White River with under a minute remaining. The Tatanka had several good looks to cut into the lead but could get no closer as White River advanced with a seven-point win.

“They are a good basketball team,” Marshall said. “They knocked down some shots to get back into it.

Cuny led Lakota Tech with 12 points with Richard III finishing with 11 points. 

The Tigers return to the championship game after losing to Lower Brule in the final a season ago. 

“Lakota Nation is early in the year and four games in four days is tough,” Sayler said. “I think the big thing is rest, you know no matter what happens with the next game we’ll be ready.”

Saturday will mark the 12th time White River has reached the LNI championship game. The Tigers will be looking to add an eighth LNI title to their trophy case. 

“We come together at the start of the year and we have one goal,” Sayler said. “We don’t care about any accolades and we’re just going to work on it every day. We accept each other and what we do, we all hang out, we’re good friends and that always helps having that bond on and off the court.”