MITCHELL — A premier South Dakota high school boys basketball matchup between Sioux Falls Christian and Huron lived up to the billing on Tuesday.

Class A No. 1 Sioux Falls Christian clipped Class AA No. 2 Huron, 66-61, at the Hoop City Classic. The highly-anticipated matchup featured future college basketball players, and in front of an electric Corn Palace. 

“It was awesome,” Sioux Falls Christian junior forward Brant Wassenaar said. “We were definitely looking forward to it from when it came out on the Hoop City schedule. I think it turned out to be a pretty good one, and a good one for the fans. But an awesome atmosphere, awesome players on the floor.”

Wassenaar, a 6-foot-4 athletic wing, tossed in a game-high 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field. He added a team-high eight rebounds. Cooper Goodbary, a future Northern State University men’s basketball player, totaled 12 points and six rebounds. Ryan Dieleman, a 6-foot-9 sophomore center, added 12 points. 

The Tigers also placed three players in double-digit scoring, led by future South Dakota State University forward Blake Ellwein. The 6-foot-10 forward totaled 18 points and 11 rebounds. 

Ellwein finished 5-of-10 from the field, and 8-of-10 at the free-throw line. Wassenaar was the primary defender on Ellwein, and Sioux Falls Christian coach Mike Schouten praised him for containing the future Jackrabbit.  

“Blake is so good. He can beat you in so many ways and Brant just really took that challenge personally and wanted to do his best to try and shut him down,” Schouten said. “I don’t know if you can shut down Blake, but he did a great job at guarding him tonight.”

Wassenaar, who holds several regional Division I and Division II scholarship offers, said he was looking forward to the challenge defending Ellwein. 

“Me and him are buddies,” Wassenaar said. “So it was a lot of fun to compete against each other. When you get to go up against guys like that there’s nothing else like it and competition vs. competition, and you go against each other and it’s a great ball game.”

Ellwein scored five points in the first quarter, sparking a 19-17 lead for the Tigers. Huron was clinging to a 32-29 halftime lead, but the Chargers seized momentum with a 20-16 third-quarter margin. 

“I think our defense got better,” Schouten said about the third quarter. “We were just a little sharper on team defense and we weren't settling for threes. We were 1-for-10 in the first half and we kind of challenged them to get to the basket. They took that to heart and did a much better job doing that.”

Wassenaar, who regularly beat his defenders in transition, said running in the open floor was key toward the victory.  

“That’s what we said from the beginning — ‘run on ‘em, run on ‘em,’ ” Wassenaar said. “They’re a big team. But we didn’t think they could stay with us in the full-court game. So that’s what we tried to do, and in the second half we really picked up on that. We got some layups, we ran, and they didn’t get back and so we did what we needed to do.”

In the fourth quarter, Wassenaar’s fastbreak layup pushed Sioux Falls Christian’s lead to 62-57 with 1:14 left after Huron got within three points. 

The Chargers converted on four free throws in the final 30 seconds, holding off Huron for the five-point victory.

Huron’s Davis Chase finished with 13 points, while Carter Porisch added 11 points and five rebounds. Anderson Porisch had nine points and Myles Ellwein totaled eight points.

Huron will host Sioux Falls Washington on Jan. 3 at the Huron Arena. 

The Chargers, meanwhile, will continue their daunting schedule. Sioux Falls Christian hosts Class A No. 2 West Central on Jan. 6 in another marquee matchup, followed by games against Iowa teams Unity Christian and Storm Lake. 

“We’ve got a really tough schedule next week,” Schouten said. “We got three really tough games. So this was a good primer.”