RAPID CITY – After dropping its first two games of the tournament by a combined three possessions, including a double-OT heartbreaker on Friday, Groton left no room for a similar result on Saturday, riding a blistering start to a 61-43 win over Stanley County in the seventh-place game of the State A Boys’ Basketball Tournament at Summit Arena.

The Tigers raced out to a 22-8 lead to open the game, leaving the Buffaloes with too much ground to recover and not enough time to do it.

“The first two nights we could have easily won, just didn’t get a couple breaks to go our way,” said Groton coach Greg Kjellsen. “But it’s a credit to the kids … they wanted to show the state what they were made of.”

Groton’s win on Saturday came largely the same way each of its 18 wins this season came, in that everyone had a hand in it. The Tigers had four players reach double figures, all of whom averaged in that range.

Keegen Tracy, Karson Zak and Ryder Johnson each posted 15 points in the win. Sippel notched 13.

“The last game was really a microcosm of our season,” Kjellsen said. “We had four kids, 15, 15, 15 and 13, and we ended the game with an alley-oop dunk and it kind of capped off Gage’s season. They were still pretty excited.”

Stanley County was led by Paxton Deal’s 16 points, hitting four 3-pointers in the effort.

Kjellsen acknowledged the bittersweet taste of the victory, but added the most memorable moments of the weekend won’t be wrapped up in the team’s place, but in the effort.

“Ten years from now, a lot of people aren’t going to remember what place we got,” he said, “but a lot of people are going to remember that game with St. Thomas More (on Friday) and how exciting it was and how each team battled and nobody gave up.”

Saturday’s game capped the careers of five seniors for the Tigers, including Tracy, Johnson, Becker Bosma, Jayden Schwan and Sippel.

STANLEY COUNTY (20-5): Brendon Bothwell 1 0-0 3, Eddie Duffy 3 0-0 7, Paxton Deal 6 0-0 16, Teegyn Breitag 3 0-0 6, Trevor Caldwell 3 0-0 6, Jack Deal 1 0-0 2, Carson Bourne 1 0-0 2, Jax Hoftiezer 0 1-2 1. Totals 17-51 3-4 43.

GROTON (19-6): Keegen Tracy 7 0-0 15, Karson Zak 7 1-2 15, Ryder Johnson 5 2-2 15, Gage Sippel 5 3-4 13, Jayden Schwan 1 0-0 3. Totals 25-51 6-8 61.

Stanley County 8 20 34 43

Groton 22 33 48 61

3-pt field goals – Bothwell, Duffy, P. Deal 4; Tracy, Johnson 3, Schwan). Total fouls – Stanley County 10; Groton 5. Rebounds – Stanley County 24 (Caldwell 8, Breitag 5); Groton 34 (Johnson 6, Becker Bosma 5, Sippel 5). Assists – Stanley County 5 (Duffy 3); Groton 14 (Zak 8). Turnovers – Stanley County 13; Groton 13. Steals – Stanley County 9 (Duffy 3); Groton 10 (Johnson 3). Blocks – Stanley County 2 (Duffy, P. Deal); Groton 1 (Sippel).