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Joe Sayler powers White River to third-place finish
White River's Joe Sayler throws down a dunk against Potter County on Saturday at Wachs Arena.
(Ryan Deal / 605 Sports)
Mar 19, 2022
 

By Ryan Deal 

605 Sports

ABERDEEN — Joe Sayler was again in attack mode and White River captured third place at the Class B boys basketball tournament on Saturday. 

Behind Sayler’s game-high 37 points and 10 rebounds, the Tigers pulled away from Potter County for an 83-74 third-place victory at Wachs Arena. 

The victory came after dropping a triple-overtime heartbreaker in the semifinals against Lower Brule. 

“It’s great for our seniors,” White River coach Eldon Marshall said. “It’s great for Dylan, great for Ramsey, great for Kalan. That was the focus. It’s hard to come back from a tough loss like that. We focused on those guys and just went out hard and competed again.”

Sayler was regularly attacking the rim and drawing contact on his way to 16 free throw attempts. He finished 10 of 20 from the field and 15 of 16 at the foul line. Sayler, the 6-foot-3 bouncy guard, said attacking the rim was his goal and especially once the Battlers got into foul trouble. 

“Especially when (Cooper) Logan and (Grant) Luikens had their fourth fouls,” Sayler said. “We just wanted to attack the basket and get something going to the rim and we got to the free-throw line and knocked them down.”

Dylan Marshall added 18 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds for the Tigers. Gavin Folkers logged 13 points and hit three 3-pointers. Nicolas Marshall scored nine points for White River. 

“It wasn’t the way we wanted to go out,” Sayler said. “But we are just so thankful to play this game again and to play in the third and fourth place game and play the way we did, I am just so proud of my team.” 

Luikens led the Battlers with 31 points, nine rebounds and three 3-pointers.  

“The Luikens kid is solid and he knocked down a few threes and ‘Oh no here we go again,” Eldon Marshall said. “But we were able to make a couple of stops and got a couple of rebounds finally and they had to start fouling and we were able to extend the lead.”

Potter County got within 73-71 after Luikens split two free throws. But the Tigers finished the game on a 10-3 run, including six free throws by Sayler and two by Dylan Marshall in the final 54 seconds. 

Sayler poured in 21 points in the first half and converted on 10 free throw attempts in the second half. 

“He was unstoppable at times,” Eldon Marshall said. “He got three or four guys around him trying to stop him and he got them in foul trouble. The Logan kid fouled out and that was a big turning point.”

Logan finished with 16 points and five rebounds. Drake Bassett added 15 points, while Seth Sharp had 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Battlers finished the season 23-3.  

The Tigers finished 21-3 in their 17th straight trip to the state tournament. 

“It’s not easy to do,” Eldon Marshall said about the 17th straight trip. “The expectations on these guys are really high and they just do a great job dealing with it and I am just really proud of them.”