RAPID CITY — The first upset win of the 2025 Lakota Nation Invitational belongs to the Cheyenne-Eagle Butte Braves. 

The CEB boys basketball team upset Class A No. 7 Rapid City Christian, 58-48, in overtime at the Summit Arena, advancing to the LNI semifinals on Friday vs. Pine Ridge. 

“It’s a good win,” CEB senior guard Damien Clown said. “This is what we have been planning for all season and it’s onto the next, take it game by game.”

The Braves built an early lead, withstood a Rapid City Christian 3-pointer to send the game into overtime and outscored the Comets 10-3 in the extra session for the victory. 

“It was a great win for us,” CEB senior guard Levi Elk Nation said. “I feel like this is a great win just to play them and come out and keep that momentum going onto the next game.”

Elk Nation led the Braves (3-0) with 16 points, while Kobe White and Nehemiah Veaux scored 12 points apiece. Clown added 11 points. 

For Rapid City Christian (2-1), Joaquin Petrik finished with 14 points and Peyton Glenn added 12 points. Henry Koppmann had 10 points and 11 rebounds. 

CEB’s early 3-point shooting sparked a 16-8 first-quarter lead, and the Braves were clinging to a 26-22 halftime advantage. 

“The second quarter we kind of fell down a little bit,” Elk Nation said. “But we kept our heads up and that’s all we need to keep doing is fight, fight, fight.”

The Comets evened the score at 29-29 late in a low-scoring third quarter, but the Braves used a 9-0 spurt to take a 38-29 lead into the fourth quarter. Clown capped off the surge with a 3-point play to close out the third quarter. 

The Braves built a 41-33 lead, but the Comets cut the deficit to 43-42 with 29 seconds left on a Glenn field goal. Elk Nation, who finished 9-of-11 at the free-throw line, converted on two foul shots for a 45-42 lead with 20 seconds left.   

Rapid City Christian’s Hudson Ogle, who finished 1-of-6 at the 3-point line, nailed his only trey with four seconds left to force overtime. 

But the Braves didn’t let the 3-pointer impact their final four minutes, outscoring the Comets 10-3 in overtime for the win. 

“We are not going to let it take us down,” Clown said about CEB’s overtime mindset. “We are just going to use it and we are going to embrace it. It lit a fire into us.”

Petrik hit a 3-pointer for a 48-46 lead with 3:11 left, but the Comets went scoreless down the stretch. White’s 3-point play gave CEB a 49-48 advantage, and the Braves never relinquished their lead. 

Clown, White and Elk Nation combined to score the final nine points, including 7-of-8 at the free-throw line to ice the win. 

“Every time when they had an opportunity to hang their head or just quit or give up, they just dug down deeper and came back out firing,” CEB coach Galen Eberhard said. “There’s no quit in this group.” 

Up next, the Braves will play Pine Ridge at 7 p.m. MT in the semifinals on Friday. 

“There’s absolutely nothing like Pine Ridge on Friday night in here,” Eberhard said. “Pine Ridge vs. Eagle Butte, we’ve seen it before many times and it’s a fun atmosphere.”