MITCHELL — Viborg-Hurley rallied back from an 18-point deficit to secure a top-five win at Saturday’s Hanson Classic.

The No. 4 Cougars trailed by 18 points late in the first half, but clipped No. 1 Castlewood for a 55-54 in a marquee Class B matchup. 

“I am really proud of the kids,” Viborg-Hurley coach Galen Schoenfeld said. “Both teams I thought played their hearts out. So it was fun for the fans to watch.”

Viborg-Hurley’s Brady Schroedermeier (21 points/6 rebounds) and Nick Hanson (20 points/9 rebounds) powered the comeback win. 

Castlewood’s Lane Tvedt scored 18 points and grabbed five rebounds. Bryon Laue scored 12 points and collected 12 rebounds. 

In the fourth quarter, Viborg-Hurley surged ahead for a 51-46 lead with five minutes left. The Warriors got within 53-52 with 1:30 left on a Jamison Keszler 3-pointer. On Castlewood’s next possession, Tvedt put the Warriors ahead 54-53 with 31 seconds left. 

Castlewood intentionally fouled Viborg-Hurley to get to three fouls. In the next timeout, Schoenfeld anticipated Castlewood would foul Viborg-Hurley again, but the Warriors never did and Devin Sayler drove the lane. Sayler found Hanson, who rose up and scored over a pair of Castlewood defenders for a 55-54 lead with 2.4 seconds left. 

“Devin did a nice job of continuing to dribble at,” Schoenfeld said. “He didn’t wait for them. He did a good job adjusting right away and we found Nick there and he was able to put her through.”

Hanson wasn’t expecting it either.  

“It was not,” he said. “I wasn't expecting them to throw it at me, but it is what it is. We won.” 

After a timeout, Tvedt’s half-court shot just missed going in as time expired, sending Viborg-Hurley to a signature win. 

“This is great,” Hanson said. “They are No. 1 and that means we are up there now.”

In the first half, Castlewood shot 15 of 29 from the field and 5 of 8 from the 3-point line, going into the break with a 36-23 advantage. 

Viborg-Hurley, meanwhile, shot 10 of 27 from the field and 1 of 7 from the 3-point line in the first half. 

“It felt like a lot of times they got us out of our game in the first half and especially that first quarter,” Schoenfeld said. “We were struggling to score and they were definitely giving us a lot of fits defensively.”

In the third quarter, the Cougars used a 17-8 run to get within 44-40 entering the final period. In the second half, Viborg-Hurley shot 15 of 28 from the field and hit 2 of 5 3-pointers. 

“We pretty much played — other than the first couple possessions out of half — we played pretty consistently that whole second half offensively and defensively,” Schoenfeld said. “Thank God they cooled off a little bit. They were hot in that first half knocking down pretty much every open three we gave them. In that second half, unfortunately for us they missed some of those and we rebounded well enough.”

Castlewood will play De Smet on Monday in another marquee Class B matchup. Viborg-Hurley will play at Baltic on Monday. 

“They have a really nice team and it’s a place we’ve struggled to play,” Schoenfeld said. “So we can’t enjoy it for too long. We have to get back at it.”