By Rich Winter

605 Sports

RAPID CITY — Despite a championship pedigree over the last two seasons, Dakota Valley coach Jason Kleis knew Pine Ridge was going to be a handful in Thursday’s first round Class A state tournament game. 

Kleis nailed the scouting report as his Panthers advanced to Friday’s semifinals with a 62-58 win over the Thorpes.   

“I’m just really proud of our guys and I thought we played one of our best games of the year,” Kleis said. “We moved the ball well and we talked a lot out on the floor.”

Dakota Valley plays Dak-XII Conference basketball and it took a minute for the Panthers to adjust to the speed and quickness of Pine Ridge. Dakota Valley’s Grant VanDenHul nailed an early basket that gave the Panthers a 5-2 lead. The Thorpes responded  with a made free throw and a Xavier Little basket gave the Thorpes their first lead of the game. 

 Thorpe defense was ferocious early and their ball pressure made it hard for the Panthers to get good looks for a few minutes in the first quarter. Lakota Tech’s Jaylin Rouillard drained a three-point that gave Pine Ridge a 14-9 lead.

Kleis had seen enough and called a timeout. 

“We were down by seven and I thought our guys just stayed together,” Kleis said. “Pine Ridge is a really great team but I thought our guys trusted each other and I could not be more proud of them.”

Pine Ridge held onto that slim lead for most of the first half and took their last lead of the half, 23-20 on another three pointer from Rouillard. Tied at 23-23, and after a quick timeout by Dakota Valley, Jaxson Wingert scored the final six points of the half.

“We challenged him before the game that he needed to get his blows (rests),” Kleis said. “He got a little riled up early and he settled down after that.”

Wingert led the Panthers with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Luke Bruns also had 24 points and contributed nine rebounds. 

The Panthers started and finished each quarter Thursday with purpose and came out strong again in the third quarter. A Marvin Richard III basket was sandwiched between two Dakota Valley makes. Wingert’s inside basket gave the Panthers their first double-digit lead at 36-25. 

Dakota Valley maintained an 8-10 point advantage most of the rest of the way but Richard III and Pine Ridge absolutely refused to let off the high octane gas pedal that is Thorpe basketball. 

Richard III made six 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 30 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists. Jaylin Rouillard added 15 points.

Dakota Valley plays Sioux Falls Christian in the early Class A semifinal on Friday.