Viborg-Hurley turns back Lyman for opening round win

Viborg-Hurley put Lyman in a hole the Raiders couldn’t climb out of at Wachs Arena Thursday afternoon.

The Cougars played with a lead down the stretch and turned back a stubborn Lyman squad 53-45 in the opening round of the Class B State Boys’ Basketball Tournament.

“Lyman is a scrappy team. They’re good, they’re never going to give up. You have to give it to them for working hard,” said Viborg-Hurley senior Gradee Sherman. “That’s what we try to do. That’s why we struggled with them, because we like to work really hard and so do they. So it was a great matchup for the first round. It’s always great to get a win period in Aberdeen.”

It was Hayden Gilbert who applied the finishing touches to the victory. During one stretch he scored seven of his team’s nine points and assisted on the other two.

“He was really strong with the dribble at the end there,” said Viborg-Hurley coach Galen Schoenefeld. “He’s a player if you give him some open space he’s going to find his way to the basket and he made some good decisions. He definitely gave us a boost at the end.”

It was Sherman who gave the Cougars a big boost all game long. If he wasn’t scoring, he was busy collecting rebounds.

“What a great high school player. I mean strength, quickness, jumping ability, savvy, strong, all those things,” said Lyman coach Cooper Garnos. “He’s a heckuva player at this level and he would be at the A or AA level, too. We knew that was going to be a big piece of it, trying to keep him off the boards. He’s relentless.”

Sherman finished with 19 points and 17 rebounds. He won nearly every 50-50 ball during the contest.

“All year long it’s just been go up and get those boards, because I’m not the most skilled basketball player so you just have to to use your size and your strength,” said Sherman, who will be playing football at Augustana next season. “I like to lift, so that’s my advantage on the basketball court, just getting physical and going up and getting those rebounds. That’s how you can get easy buckets.”

Gilbert added 14 points for the Cougars, who were able to hold off the Raiders down the stretch.

“I think we really kind of established ourselves in the third quarter,” Schoenefeld said. “After the fist couple of minutes it seemed like we really started to get a lot of stops defensively and that extended into the fourth quarter for a little ways. It allowed us to be a little bit of cushion.”

Sam McClanahan led a balanced scoring attack for Lyman with 11 points, Stockton McClanahan added 10, Toby Estes nine and Cruz Garnos eight.

In the end, it wasn’t quite enough for the Raiders who never stopped battling.

“That’s the hallmark of this team that we’ve had this year. We’ve played 24 times and I really can’t really think of anything that we’re down and out,” Coach Garnos said. “The kids always would fight, and scrap and claw. That’s what they’ve done all year. This was kind of typical today.”

Lyman (19-5) plays Lower Brule in consolation action at noon today.

Viborg-Hurley (18-5) moves on to take on top-seeded De Smet in the semifinals at 5 this evening.

“A team that were very familiar with from playing a number of times over the last few seasons, plus we play them in the summer league all the time,” Schoenefeld said. “They’re going to get after us defensively. We need to get after them. Hopefully, we can come out on top this time.”

LYMAN (19-5): Toby Estes 4 0-0 9, Sam McClanahan 4 2-2 11, Cruz Garnos 3 1-4 8, Stockton McClanahan 4 1-4 10, Tyson Floyd 2 0-1 5, Declan Cleveland 1 0-0 2. Totals 18-45 4-11 45.

VIBORG-HURLEY (18-5): Carter Gust 3 2-6 8, Hayden Gilbert 3 7-9 14, Eli Boomgarden 2 1-1 5, Gradee Sherman 6 7-10 19, Grant Mikkelsen 2 0-0 6, Angel Johnson 0 1-3 1. Totals 16-46 18-29 53.

Lyman 9 21 29 45

Viborg-Hurley 11 22 35 53

3-point field goals – Estes, Sam McClanahan, Garnos, Stockton McClanahan, Floyd; Gilbert, Mikkelsen 2. Fouled out – Lyman, Colton Collins, Stockton McClanahan, Floyd. Total fouls – Lyman 22; Viborg-Hurley 15. Rebounds – Lyman 26 (Estes 6); Viborg-Hurley 44 (Sherman 17). Turnovers – Lyman 17; Viborg-Hurley 19. Assists – Lyman 8 (Sam McClanahan 3); Viborg-Hurley 7. Steals – Lyman 12 (Sam McClanahan 4); Viborg-Hurley 11 (Mikkelsen 5).