ABERDEEN — Fresh off its SoDak 16 win, Viborg-Hurley was riding momentum into the state tournament and was a popular upset pick against No. 1 White River. 

The Tigers, however, spoiled any Cougar upset bid and pulled away for a 72-57 win at the Class B boys basketball tournament on Thursday at Wachs Arena. 

The Tigers and Cougars have history and in the same setting. In 2019, White River was the No. 1 seed and the eighth-seeded Cougars pulled the upset in the opener. History did not repeat itself as the Tigers advanced to the semifinals for the third straight season. 

“Whenever you come here you are going to face teams that are very good,” White River coach Eldon Marshall said. “You step on the court and the seedings don’t matter and that’s the mentality we had to have. I think the kids know that. They came out and weathered the storm early against a very good team.”

White River (22-2) placed four players in double figures, shot 55 percent from the field and bottled up the Cougars (18-6) in the opener. Jordan Uhlir scored a game-high 21 points and collected four rebounds, while Nic Marshall posted 20 points and seven assists. Evastine Wright (11 points) and Ray Crow (10 points) scored in double figures for White River, which used a 12-6 second quarter run to take a 31-24 lead into halftime. 

“We just wore off the nerves,” Uhlir said. “We weren’t ready to start in the first quarter. We didn’t know what to expect with all the people here, but in the second quarter we really locked in and defended.”

In the third quarter, White River’s lead ballooned to double digits and the Tigers maintained a comfortable margin throughout. White River forced Viborg-Hurley into 22 turnovers and logged nine steals.  

“That’s huge because when you force those turnovers, it’s a momentum shifter,” Nic Marshall said. “We get the momentum and we just keep going and we like to play fast.”

Viborg-Hurley’s Nick Hanson logged 17 points and seven rebounds. Hanson, a 6-foot-6 all-stater, drew the attention of White River’s defensive attack.

“He got quite a few ‘O’ boards and quite a few inside shots,” said Uhlir, a 6-foot-6 post. “Our game was really to help the back side on him, but we took away what we wanted.”

The Tigers also switched up their defense to a zone to combat Hanson down low. 

“We kind of knew they wanted to give it to Nick,” Nic Marshall said. “So we had to take him out of the way. So that’s why we went zone and we were all getting in foul trouble. So that zone I think really threw them off a little bit. Then we got to running, hit some shots and separated ourselves a little bit.”

Viborg-Hurley’s Nick Schroedermeier added 13 points and four rebounds. Bryson Morrison logged eight points and four rebounds. 

Nic Marshall orchestrated the White River’s offensive attack, finishing with several drives in the paint and dishing to teammates when the defense collapsed on him. 

“He had a nice little pull up jumper from about the free-throw line, and when he’s playing confident like that we are a pretty tough team,” Eldon Marshall said. 

Viborg-Hurley will play Wessington Springs in the consolation semifinals on Friday.

White River will play Howard in the championship semifinals on Friday.