By Rich Winter

605 Sports

On a night where free throws were hard to come by, Sioux Valley made them when it mattered most. 

Damien Danzeisen knocked down a pair with 23 seconds remaining, and Jace Christensen a pair late, as Sioux Valley slipped past St. Thomas More, 54-46. Sioux Valley, 20-5 on the season will play Dakota Valley, 25-0 in Saturday’s Class A championship game starting at 7:45 p.m.

“This is a game we wanted to get back to after last year and we wanted to get back here,” Sioux Valley coach Bill Vincent said. “It’s going to be a battle against Dakota Valley.” 

Hayden Ruesink led Sioux Valley with 19 points making seven-of-eight shots from the field. 

It was the Cossack’s outside shooting that got the job done early. Sioux Valley drained seven, first-half 3-pointers on their way to a 30-16 halftime advantage. 

Ruesink’s 15-footer got the scoring going in the second half and Danzeisen hit a 3-pointer to give Sioux Valley their largest lead of the night, 36-19. 

Cold in the first half, St. Thomas More got it rolling in the third quarter. Cade Kandolin hit a 3-pointer, followed by another triple from Caleb Hollenbeck. A basket from Jordan Uhlir and another 3-pointer from Kandolin sparked an 11-3 run that closed the gap to nine with 2:10 remaining in the third period. 

Kandolin hit a layup with 50 seconds remaining and his floater just before the third quarter buzzer was part of a 15-6 run from the Cavaliers that cut the lead to 36-31 entering the final period. 

Sioux Valley’s Oliver Vincent opened the final stanza with a made 3-pointer. Ruesink’s runner made the score 41-33 with six minutes remaining. 

The Cavaliers cut the lead to 41-37 on an Ethan Burnett three-pointer and a free-throw from Ian Clewly with 4:13 remaining. St. Thomas More had their chances but a 9-18 night from the charity stripe felled their chances of any kind of late run. 

“I feel like we got a little lucky. We made some shots and had to survive some foul trouble,” Vincent said. “We gotta get rested up and recover and be ready tomorrow.” 

Sioux Valley was just 11-23 from the free-throw line but finished the night 9-19 on 3-pointers. 

Vincent fouled out midway through the final period but did manage 12 points and five assists. Alec Squires added six points and 15 rebounds while Danzeisen added nine points and three assists. 

Caleb Hollenbeck led St. Thomas More with 19 points and six rebounds. Cade Kandolin added 13 points for the Cavaliers. 

St. Thomas More plays Flandreau on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. in the third place game.