By Rodney Haas 

605 Sports 

SIOUX FALLS — A night after Devon Schmitz hit a buzzer-beater to send Elk Point-Jefferson into the Class A semifinals, the Huskies looked to continue the momentum Friday night.

At first, it appeared EPJ would do just that — taking a 16-13 lead after the first quarter. However, Sioux Falls Christian would answer by outscoring the Huskies 18-11 in the second quarter to take a 31-27 lead at halftime and never looked back en route to a 75-51 win. 

“I’m proud of our guys,” EPJ coach Jake Otkin said. “They battled hard. They’re great kids, great players and we ride with them until everything is over.”

The Huskies will have one more game left in their season Saturday when they play Hamlin for third-place.

“I think at the end of day, third place, second place, first place at the end of the day you are one of the best teams in the state and these guys get to call themselves that for the rest of their lives,” Otkin said. “In 2023 Elk Point-Jefferson was one of the best teams in the state and nobody can take that away from them or the legacy that they leave at Elk Point-Jefferson.” 

Easton Kempf led EPJ with 16 points while Garrett Merkley had 14 points. 

Sioux Falls Christian, which returns to the title game for the first time in two years, had four players in double figures, led by Ethan Bruns with 20 points. Britton Mulder had 14 points, Cole Snyder added 11 points and Tayton Snyder had 10 points.  

“I thought our kids responded really well,” Sioux Falls Christian coach Mike Schouten said. “EPJ came out and played great — knocking down shots to start the game and got us on the heels a bit. We knew this was going to be a tough game because EPJ has been playing really good ball these last few weeks of the season. We played them earlier and I think we beat them by 18. It wasn’t going to be the same team that we saw earlier.”

The Chargers opened the floodgates in the third — outscoring the Huskies 24-12 to take a commanding 55-39 lead going into the fourth quarter. 

“We are really excited to have this opportunity,” Schouten said of playing in Saturday’s championship game. “Dakota Valley is a great team and we have to play really well to have a chance. We are the only other team in the state to have this opportunity to play Dakota Valley and we’re looking forward to that.”

In Friday’s other semifinal, Dakota Valley survived a first half scare from Hamlin before going on a 19-0 run to open the third quarter en route to a 77-63 win.  

“It’s all mental toughness for our guys because if anybody watched that first half, they would never have guessed they would come out on a 19-0 run and they did,” Dakota Valley coach Jason Kleis said. “It was just all the mindset and not wanting to lose. The will to win for this group is nothing like I’ve ever seen.”

Hamlin would jump out to a 23-18 lead after the first quarter and had an upset on its mind going into halftime with a nine-point (39-30) lead. 

But behind the Panthers’ run, Dakota Valley outscored Hamlin 26-4 in the third quarter to take a 56-43 lead. 

“We just tried to challenge our guys to be the aggressor,” Kleis said. “We were not the aggressor in the first half and give them credit. They were hitting 3’s, they were stronger and faster and then you add the pressure of winning 51 games in a row and you can see it with the way our guys responded.”

Isaac Bruns led Dakota Valley with 27 points while Randy Rosenquist added 20 and Jaxson Wingert added 18 points. 

Easton Neuendorf led Hamlin with 16 points and Tyson Stevenson had 14 points.