RAPID CITY – Clark-Willow Lake was here last season. It didn’t quite go as planned.
So, the Cyclones are on a quest, not just to be at the Class A state basketball tournament, but to compete in it.
After finishing eighth in last year’s tournament with a group no one quite expected to be there, the Cyclones are back in this year’s event with expectations all their own and a confidence borne of experience.
“It helped tremendously, because we figured out what we needed to do to play at that level,” said Clark-Willow Lake coach Jerome Nesheim of being in the tournament last year. “So our motto this year has been toughness wins. We needed to become tougher, not only mentally, but physically. I think last year we got pushed around a little bit because the teams we played were so much more physical than us. Again, they’re older, but we kind of figured out we needed to become a lot tougher, even just going for rebounds or loose balls.”
The Cyclones enter the tournament as the number three seed sporting a 20-2 record. Those two losses came at the hands of top-seeded Sioux Falls Christian (by 11 points), and second-seeded West Central (by three points). Clark-Willow Lake also owns wins over No. 4 Hamlin and No. 5 Groton, whom they met during Northeast Conference play.
“After the West Central game, we had two really good looks at the basket to win it and they just didn’t go in for us,” Nesheim said. “So we figured out we are able to compete at that high level. When we played SFC, who is again another great team, we were able to compete with them. And when our kids figured out we can compete with them, maybe we have a shot to beat them. … Our kids have a lot of confidence that we have an opportunity to win this game, not just to play in it.”
It doesn’t hurt that the Cyclones are one year older than they were last season, though they still have a smattering of youth and inexperience across the board. Nesheim pointed out the team’s balance offensively, including three players who topped – or nearly so – the 30-point benchmark this season.
“(Chris) Bevers almost had 30 in our SoDak 16 game,” Nesheim said. “Emerson Larson had 30 in a game and Sully Felberg, when he gets going, he’s had a couple games over 30.”
Clark-Willow Lake also turned up its defensive pressure this season, which helped its offensive output, Nesheim said.
“Defensively it really helps us out, because we were able to get stops and that style sometimes leads to fast breaks for us,” he said, “so we were able to score a few more points that way. We also get a ton of offensive rebounds, and that comes back to toughness. We’re going to the offensive rebounds more to give us more opportunities to score. Our kids see the benefit of that, if I go to the boards, I’m going to be able to score.”
The Cyclones drew sixth-seeded Stanley County in Thursday’s first-round action. Though the teams did not meet during the regular season, Nesheim said he’s familiar with the Buffaloes from a summer camp meeting.
“They are really a nice team.,” he said. “They’ve got some guys that can really shoot it. They’ve got some bigs in there, so it’s kind of a nice little match-up. It still really comes down to what we do and what we do well.”
Clark-Willow Lake and Stanley County will take the court in the final game of the opening day. Tip-off is set for 7:45 p.m. (CDT) at the Monument.
“Anytime you get to a state tournament, it’s exciting, especially when you come from a small town,” Nesheim said. “You don’t get there every year, so it’s always exciting, especially for the communities.”
