WATERTOWN – Teams playing Clark-Willow Lake face a tall task, and when the Cyclones shoot like they did Tuesday night, that can quickly turn into mission impossible.

Clark-Willow Lake scored 11 unanswered points to build an early double-digit lead and rolled to a 77-41 win over McCook Central-Montrose in a Class A SoDak 16 boys’ basketball game at the Watertown Civic Arena.

Chris Bevers had a first half for the ages, nailing all nine of his field-goal attempts (including a pair of 3-pointers) and both of his free throws on his way to 22 points. By then, Clark-Willow Lake owned a 45-24 halftime advantage.

Bevers had a hard time explaining his scoring flurry.

“I don’t know. I was just feeling it,” Bevers said. “The team was getting me the ball.”

Clark-Willow Lake coach Jerome Nesheim knows what the junior is capable of doing.

“He shoots the ball well. He gets some open shots and he’s got a great pull-up jumper,” Nesheim said. “We just try to get him in a position where he can score.”

And when Bevers shoots like that, the Cyclones are extremely difficult to stop. When he doesn’t Clark-Willow Lake then turns to its inside game.

“Then we have to sometimes kind of force it into Sully (Felberg) or Emmerson (Larson) and see what they can do,” Nesheim said, “but when he’s able to score, it does open up our offense and we’ve got a lot of options.”

There was no need to convince MCM coach Trent Sabers of that fact.

“Our size and our length, I thought we could match up a little better against them,” Sabers said, “but man they’re so physical, and quick and athletic. They’re hard to guard for sure.”

Felberg still got his touches inside where he worked for 18 points and 13 rebounds. But having solid perimeter shooting makes life much easier for the 6-foot-8 sophomore, who is often surrounded by two or three defenders.

“It’s hard, but I know I’ve got great shooters outside,” Felberg said, “so I always look to them, and look to score, too.”

With a front-line that measures 6-4, 6-6, and 6-8, Clark-Willow Lake dominated the glass, outrebounding the Cougars by a 43-19 margin.

“That’s what we always try to do, outrebound,” Felberg said. “That’s one of the best things about this team.”

And sometimes it not just the tall players who contribute to the rebounding total.

“One of our biggest rebounders is Jakob Steen, at 5-foot-10, but he’s going in there and he’s going to battle,” Nesheim said. “He’s a competitor and when he gets us extra touches, we are really good.”

The Cyclones’ size not only made an impact in rebounding, it caused issues for the MCM offense, which had to look for open shots.

“Our length and our quickness really helped. Emmerson Larson can defend almost anybody,” Nesheim said. “He’s got great length, and he’s able to read. He has a high basketball IQ. He gets a couple of steals, gets some easy buckets, now that kind of makes them play on their heels a little bit.”

Not only that, but the Cyclones were able to rotate out to the perimeter to run the Cougars off the 3-point line.

“Our strategy was to just not let them have any set shots,” Bevers said. “We needed to make them put in on the ground.”

Owen Schmidt and Andrew Sabers each scored 12 points to lead the Cougars, who finished the year at 15-6.

“If somebody would have told me we’d be 14-6, 15-6 with the playoff win, and one game away from the state tournament at the beginning of the year, I think every one of us would have taken that opportunity,” coach Sabers said. “It was fun. Our boys played hard. We just ran into a buzzsaw tonight.”

Bevers finished with a game-high 27 points, and Larson contributed 14.

Clark-Willow Lake will now make a return trip to the state tournament, where they Cyclones finished eighth a year ago.

“I was nervous last year, but I definitely have more experience and our whole team does,” Felberg said, “so we’re definitely coming into this state tournament a little bit more prepared.”

Bevers said qualifying for state has a slightly different feel than it did a year ago.

“It feels a little bit different,” Bevers said. “The expectations are a little bit higher this year. We want to do a little bit better.”

The Cyclones, 20-2, will face Stanley County in the final game of the opening round of the tourney a week from Thursday in Rapid City.

“We’re going to have to defend and rebound. That’s been our key all year,” Nesheim said. “Defend and rebound, and then let the offense happen. If we can shoot that well, I think we’ll be tough.”

McCOOK CENTRAL-MONTROSE (15-7): Dawson Dorr 3 0-1 6, Zane McCormick 1 0-0 2, Ben Wiebersick 2 0-0 6, Owen Schmidt 5 2-6 12, Andrew Sabers 3 4-5 12, Lane Hanisch 1 0-0 2, Burke McCormick 0 1-2 1. Totals 15-37 7-14 41.

CLARK-WILLOW LAKE (20-2): Bo Begeman 4 1-4 9, Sully Felberg 7 3-4 18, Emmerson Larson 7 0-0 14, Chris Bevers 11 3-4 27, Joey Ries 1 0-0 2, Talen Huber 1 0-0 2, Miles Olson 1 0-0 1, Levi Atkins 1 0-0 3. Totals 33-70 7-12 77.

McCook Central-Montrose 12 24 36 41

Clark-Willow Lake 20 45 67 77

3-point field goals – Wiebersick 2, Sabers 2; Felberg, Bevers 2, Atkins. Total fouls – McCook Central-Montrose 11; Clark-Willow Lake 15. Rebounds – McCook Central-Montrose 19 (Schmidt 5); Clark-Willow Lake 43 (Felberg 13). Turnovers – McCook Central-Montrose 10; Clark-Willow Lake 3. Assists – McCook Central-Montrose 4; Clark-Willow Lake 14 (Jakob Steen 3, Begeman 3). Blocked shots – McCook Central-Montrose 2; Clark-Willow Lake 2 (Begeman 2). Steals – McCook Central-Montrose 1; Clark-Willow Lake 8 (Larson 5).