By Richard Anderson

605 Sports

RAPID CITY – Eventually revenge was on their minds and that’s exactly what happened as the Brandon Valley Lynx pulled away in the fourth quarter to retake the Class AA boys’ state basketball championship from Mitchell with a 53-45 win Saturday night at The Summit Arena.

The Lynx denied the Kernels their second straight championship after last season’s 46-45 win over Brandon Valley and did it with outstanding outside shooting and a smothering defense.

Getting the state title was surreal, Brandon Valley head coach Craig Nelson said, because they lost so much off of last year’s team.

 “In the preseason, I don’t think this group was picked to do a whole lot,” he said. “It’s a sum of the parts type of team. They buy in and they are so unselfish, that the true team victory is these guys coming together like they did.”

Brandon Valley senior Mach Mayen was one of three Lynx players named to the all-tournament team, but he said it was a team victory all the way.

“Thanks to my teammates for the most part. It all came down to teamwork and pushing hard throughout the whole season. I’m proud,” said Mayen.

In an expected defensive battle, the Kernels led 21-19 at halftime, only to see the Lynx outscore them 34-24 in the second half. Brandon Valley hit 10-of-21 3-pointers in the game to just 3-of-15 for Mitchell.

“It’s just a group where it is finding a way,” Nelson said. “It’s usually defense and rebounding, but it was dudes that are tough and dudes who step up and make plays, they are just gamers. Every game you find a way. I can’t say enough about them.

Brandon Valley's Mach Mayen (3) and Brandon Valley's Briggs Knutson (12) celebreate a score against the Mitchell Kernels during the Class AA state championship on Saturday at Summit Arena at The Monument in Rapid City. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

“We shot the ball really well. That is not our character normally, but it is hard to get something inside against that team. You have to resort to something else and thankfully they were falling for us.”

Both teams started a little slow before Brandon Valley’s Aiden Zerr hit a 3-poiner a minute and a half into the game. Markus Talley finally got the Kernels on the board at the 5-minute mark and his second basket followed Landon Dulaney’s 3 to make it a 6-4 game.

The Kernels settled down on offense and took a pair of leads at 7-6 and 11-8 on baskets by Gavin Hinker and Colton Smith. Dulaney’s second 3-pointer made it an 11-11 game after the first period.

Neither team shot particularly well, although the Lynx hit 3-of-5 3s (4-of-11 overall) and the Kernels 5-of-14 overall and 0-3 from beyond the arc.

The two teams traded leads early in the second before the Kernels – mainly Hinker – caught a little fire. Three baskets from Hinker – the last two from a nice assist from Landen Soulek -- and two free throws put Mitchell up 21-16 with 3:21 until halftime.

Brandon Valley hit 3-of-6 free throws to close the scoring as Mitchell held on for a 21-19 halftime advantage.

The second half belonged to the Lynx, who shot 58 percent from the field.

“The game plan ahead of time was to play composed,” Mayen said. “It’s only a two-point game, so don’t get ahead of ourselves and just stay with them and eventually we’ll go on a run.”

The Kernels grabbed five offensive rebounds in the first quarter and the Lynx knew that couldn’t continue.

 “We just upped the physicality a little bit,” said Nelson. “There are a lot of middle coverages here and there, but it is just a lot of stepping up and making plays, step up and get a two-handed rebound and do the little thing to get the victory.”

After a tough offensive first half by both teams, the scoring picked up in the third. Two straight baskets by Parker Mandel opening things up for the Kernels, followed by Talley’s first 3-pointer. The Lynx responded with two 3-pointers each by Briggs Knutson and freshman Lincoln McInerney to regain the lead at 33-30 with 3:05 in the quarter. McInerney did not play in the first half.

 The Lynx took that momentum into the fourth, with Austin Dowd scoring a basket and Knutson nailing his fourth 3-pointer for a 41-34 lead with 6:19 to play.

The Kernels finally got on the scoreboard in the fourth on a basket by Smith at the 4:33 mark, but Dulaney answered to keep it a seven-point lead.

Brandon Valley, led by Knutson and Mach Mayen, used a 7-1 run for a 10-point lead at 50-40 with 1:49 to play. Mayen had four points, including a dunk, and Knutson hit his fifth 3-pointer, his fourth in the second half.

A layup by Dulaney off an errant Mitchell pass put the Lynx up by 11 with 23 seconds remaining, only to see Talley hit his second 3-pointer with 12 seconds to go to cut the lead to eight.

But that was as close as it would get and the Lynx got their revenge.

There was little revenge talk, Knutson said, until the Lynx got to the title game against the Kernels.

“We were just trying to get to the state championship,” he said. “But once the matchup got there, that was especially something that was talked about, especially from the guys who played last year. We tried to avenge that, remembering that feeling.”

Knutson led all scorers with 17 points on five 3-pointers, followed by Dulaney with 13 and Mayen with seven points. The Lynx shot 45 percent from the field (18-of-40).

Mitchell was paced by Hinker with 15 points and Talley with 13. As a team, the Kernels shot 42 percent from the field (19-of-45).

“Again it comes down to chemistry with our team,” Mayen said of the defense. “We did a pretty good job and we talked through it. Every single one of our players is pretty good and we’re talented in our own ways.”

Nelson said they really didn’t change defensively.

“We didn’t go back to the zone; I thought they attacked our zone pretty good, so we just went back to man-to-man, and tighten the screws a little bit,” he said.

Nelson said that it was crazy and ironic that these two teams met for the title two years in-a-row.

“It is really good basketball and Mitchell has been here three years in a row and that doesn’t happen very often,” he said. “They have a really good basketball team. We were fortunate to come out on top this time. It doesn’t take anything away from them.”