By Ryan Deal

605 Sports

The White River School District expressed its frustrations over the Class B boys basketball tournament scoring error at Wednesday’s South Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors meeting. 

White River was defeated by Aberdeen Christian, 70-65, in overtime of the Class B third-place boys basketball game. The contest has been marred by a scoring error in the third quarter — among other mistakes — that benefitted Aberdeen Christian. The SDHSAA has admitted the errors, sent a written apology to White River and said it will not change the game’s outcome. Aberdeen Christian is the third-place finisher, while White River is the fourth-place finisher,

On Wednesday, White River Superintendent Louie Krogman, Principal Peri Strain and boys basketball coach Eldon Marshall, among others, addressed the issues with the board of directors at an open forum. 

“We want the activities association to acknowledge the mistakes and not sugar coat the truth,”  Krogman said. “I believe the board of directors need to hear the truth. Our team was wronged on the biggest stage in the state tournament.”

In the White River vs. Aberdeen Christian game, White River was leading 31-25 at the 7:37 mark of the third quarter and Aberdeen Christian’s Ethan Russell shot a pair of free throws. Russell missed the first free throw, and while play was stopped to work through the foul call, the scorekeeper mistakenly added a point for Aberdeen Christian. Russell made the second free throw and that inadvertently put the score at 31-27, instead of 31-26. 

Strain, who is also White River’s scorekeeper, immediately recognized the error. 

“This was immediately called to the attention of the lead scorekeeper and clock official by our team bookkeeper,” Krogman said. “The repeated attempts to call the score into question were shrugged off and we still do not know why. We don’t have an answer to that question.” 

Strain went to the scorekeeper’s table to point out the mistake. But her attempt to correct the score was brushed off by the people at the scorer’s table. 

“I think there’s a bigger issue at play as to why she was not listened to,” Krogman said. “She’s been a scorekeeper for a long time.”

The state’s all-time boys basketball scoring leader then quipped, “She counted all 3,521 of my points.” 

In the third quarter, more confusion and another stoppage in play benefitted Aberdeen Christian. Russell made a free throw at the 1:20 mark and officials noticed blood on White River’s T.J. Beardt leg before the next free throw. Marshall opted to call a timeout, instead of subbing out Beardt. 

After the 30-second timeout, Russell missed the second free throw and White River’s Joe Sayler grabbed the rebound. But officials blew the play dead after confusion whether it was the first or second free throw. After discussion, the officials ruled it a jump ball and possession went back to Aberdeen Christian, which scored on the inbound play to make it 45-45.

The three points — the inadvertent free throw and two off the jump ball — loomed large as the game went in overtime. 

There was also a discrepancy in the team fouls for Aberdeen Christian in the second half. The Knights committed their personal foul at 5:37 of the third period, but the foul does not appear to have been recognized in the running total of fouls in the half.

Thus, when Aberdeen Christian committed its seventh team foul of the half, the total erroneously showed only six team fouls, meaning White River was not put in the bonus until Aberdeen Christian’s actual eighth foul of the half. 

However, the seventh team foul committed by Aberdeen Christian was a team possession foul, which does not result in free throws. 

“It’s just frustrating for our kids,” Marshall said. “That’s ultimately what it comes down to. I know the game’s over and it’s a done deal, but usually when bad things happen, there’s usually a positive. I think the big thing is that down the road we make the improvements that have been suggested here regarding officials and regarding the table.”

At Wednesday’s open forum, suggestions were made to prevent the incident from happening in the future. In the past, Krogman and Strain both pointed out workers at the scorers table have been watching other state tournaments or NCAA basketball games on their cell phones. 

“The bookkeepers at the state tournament this year were on their phones,” Strain said. “We all have cell phones. We have used them and they have been a distraction. We’ve all experienced that. I’ve done it and I know everyone in this room has done it.”

Another suggestion was moving the team bookkeepers closer to the head scorers table, instead of behind their respective benches. Krogman suggested a different method for how officials are assigned state tournament games.

The use of video replay was mentioned and Avon Superintendent Tom Culver brought up the 2019 controversial Yankton vs. Sioux Falls O’Gorman boys basketball buzzer beater that ultimately led to replay being instituted by the SDHSAA. 

“There were some things that happened to correct that and hopefully we alleviate those situations if it ever happens again, so that something like that can be fixed on the spot,” Culver said. 

In addition to White River school officials, fans and parents in attendance, boys basketball players Joe Sayler, Gavin Folkers, T.J. Beardt, Nic Marshall, Riley Bouman and Mackenzie Wike were also at the open forum. 

SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos publicly addressed the players to close the open discussion. 

“There’s no excuse for why it happened and for the young men here, I am sorry this happened to you,” Swartos said. “We are going to make sure we do everything we can so this never happens again. Nobody wanted this to happen and nobody wins in this.”

2024 state track meet moved to Sioux Falls 

The SDHSAA Board of Directors also discussed future state tournament locations for 2024 and beyond.

In 2024, the state track and field meet was moved from Rapid City to Sioux Falls. Rapid City was next in the rotation, but the site selection committee recommended keeping track in Sioux Falls next season. The board approved the move.

“There’s been discussion on maybe making state track permanent in Sioux Falls and wrestling permanent in Rapid City,” Swartos said. “We’d like to get through another year of the three-day meet with an updated schedule and get some feedback from the schools on if they want to keep that three-day meet. If we do then we can keep something more permanent and look down the road. In the meantime, this let's schools know where we are going to have track and field next year and allows us to budget for it.”

In 2027, the girls basketball tournament sites are to be determined. Huron is possibly building a new events center and potentially a new hotel, said Swartos, which would impact the 2027 sites. As of now, Watertown or Huron would host the Class B tournament and the Class A tournament would be in either Huron or Brookings. The Class AA tournament would be in either Brookings or Sioux Falls at the Sanford Pentagon. 

“We have a couple (options) for each, depending on what happens in Huron with the hotels and events center and everything else,” Swartos said.