ABERDEEN — The De Smet Bulldogs are back in familiar territory.

Behind another strong defensive effort, the No. 1 ‘Dogs knocked off Potter County 67-45 in the Class B boys basketball semifinals on Friday. De Smet (24-1) plays Lower Brule in the championship game on Saturday. 

De Smet is making its third straight state championship appearance, including last year’s state championship victory. 

On Friday, the Bulldogs held the Battlers (23-2) to their season-low point total and 17 of 56 shooting from the field. 

“We know good defense turns into offense,” said De Smet senior forward Tory Holland, who finished with . “So we always go into a game knowing that if they don’t score then we automatically win. So we go out there and we push ourselves as much as possible to get it done.”

Kalen Garry added 18 points, while Damon Wilkinson (20 points/9 rebounds) again anchored the post for De Smet. 

The Battlers didn’t have a starter that could matchup with the 6-foot-9 junior center and De Smet utilized the size advantage. 

“It’s definitely an advantage,” Wilkinson said. “It makes those guys collapse down and it gets open shots.”

Potter County’s Cooper Logan and Grant Luikens finished with 21 and 12 points, respectively. But the senior duo finished a combined 13 of 41 from the field as they drew the defensive attention of the Bulldogs. 

“We wanted to make sure they weren’t getting open looks,” De Smet coach Jeff Gruenhagen said. “They are both really good finishers in the lane.”

The Bulldogs bottled up the Battlers early and often. De Smet led 22-6 after the first quarter and 31-20 at halftime. De Smet’s lead stretched into 20 points in the second half.

De Smet controlled the glass, finished with 42 rebounds compared to 36 by Potter County. 

De Smet limited Potter County’s offense opportunities and regularly corralled defensive rebounds. The Bulldogs finished with 30 defensive boards. 

“We saw in the film that they really crashed the boards hard,” Gruenhagen said. “It was big for us to make sure we got a body on them.”

De Smet point guard Rett Osthus was hampered with foul trouble and played just 17 minutes before fouling out in the second half. Gruenhagen singled out Holland for helping pick up the offensive slack in Osthus’ absence. 

“Tory had another great game,” Gruenhagen said. “He’s kind of a quiet guy but he’s our energy giver and he hit some big shots. He made some great decisions down the stretch there and took some to the basket. He pulled some back out and kept so many balls alive. I was just proud of his effort.” 

Potter County will play White River in the third-place game on Saturday. 

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, will play Lower Brule as they’re gunning for their second straight championship. 

“We are going to play defense and see how it goes,” Wilkinson said.