Spartans drop two and win one before 281 tourney WSHS vs. SBA

The Wessington Springs boy’s basketball team traveled to Sunshine Bible Academy in the middle of January. The Spartans defense allowed them to build a big lead in the first half holding the Crusaders to 14 first half points. Jordan Von Eye led all scorers with 25 points enroute to a 56-47 win. Drew Kraft chipped in with 9. Spartans controlled the boards with 40, Von Eye pulled down 15. The Spartans shot 20-of-41 from the field and 14-of-27 from the foul line.

The Spartans dropped a tough one to Chamberlain at home 48-79. Chamberlain jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. The Spartans played well in the second quarter only getting outscored by 2 but still trailed by 16 at the half. Mitch Kraft led the Spartans with 15 points while Ty Kenobbie had 12. Jordan Von Eye grabbed 9 rebounds to lead the Spartans in rebounding. The boys shot 16-of-42 from the field and 15-of-19 from the free throw line.

The Spartans played in the Redfield Classis on the 10th of January. They played against a good Rosholt team. The Spartans came out slow only scoring 16 points in the first half and found themselves down by 19 at half time. The Spartans picked up the scoring in the second half finishing the game with 53 points but it wasn’t enough. The Spartans lost the game 68-53. Jordan VonEye led the Spartans with 13 points. Kaleb Kopfmann and Mitch Kraft each had 10, Drew Kraft and Ty Kenobbie scored 7 each and Brett Kopfmann had 6.

In the opening round of the 281 Conference Tournament the Spartans recorded a win by beating Wolsey Wessington at James Valley. The Spartans played great defense in the first quarter jumping out to 21-6 lead. In the second quarter the Spartans gave up 13 points and scored 21 to go in to the half 42-19. In the second half the Spartans came out and played pretty equal with the Warbirds and have ending the game 73-53 victory. The Spartans were lead by senior Jordan VonEye scoring 19 as Brett Kopfmann scored 13, Drew Kraft 12, Ty Kenobbie with 10, and Kaleb Kopfmann getting 7. With the Spartans’ victory they had to play the number 1 seed Hitchcock/Tulare.

In the second round of the 281 Conference Tournament the Spartans played Hitchcock/Tulare at the Huron Arena. The Spartans came up short in a hard fought battle losing 52-40. The Spartans kept a steady lead going into the fourth quarter as the Patriots fought back scoring 25 fourth quarter points as the Spartans scored 9. The Spartans were led by senior Brett Kopfmann and sophomore Ty Kenobbie as Kopfmann scored 12 and Kenobbie had 11. Jordan VonEye ended up with 8 and Kaleb Kopfmann and Drew Kraft both hitting 3, and Mitch Kraft scoring 2. With the loss the Spartans will go back up to the Huron Arena and play James Valley for 3rd and 4th place.

In the third round of the 281 Conference Tournament the Spartans played James Valley, losing 74-49. In the first half the Spartans never let the game get away from them by fighting hard for a 37-22 score at half. The Spartans came off bad in the beginning of the second half letting James Valley score 27 third quarter points as the Spartans scored 12. In the fourth quarter Spartans outscored the Vikings 13-10. The Spartans were lead by senior Brett Kopfmann’s 17. Jordan VonEye had 6, Drew Kraft and Kaleb Kopfmann each hit 5, Ty Kenobbie-2, Mitch Kraft -7, Jon Manning-2, Trevor Kenobbie-3, and Cj LePage-2. The Spartans ended the tournament with 1 win and 2 losses for fourth place.

The Springs girls were defeated 67-25 at Miller last week. Amanda Gran led the Lady Spartans with seven points and Traci Orth had eight rebounds.

Becky Kopfmann had a team-high nine points and Traci Orth eight in a 58-34 loss to Wolsey/Wessington.