Winner places sixth at state

By Dan Bechtold

Editor

For any athlete playing in a state tournament is a highlight of their season and something they will always remember.

This season the Winner boys took a 22-1 record into the state tournament which was played in Rapid City.

Not only were they playing on a bigger stage before huge crows, they were also part of history. This Winner boys team will always be remembered for playing in the first state meet at the new Summit Arena at The Monument. 

The Warriors opened tournament play playing Sioux Valley.

After trailing by as many as 14 points Winner roared back and came close to defeating Sioux Valley. The Warriors lost the game 58-54.

Winner outscored the opposition 16-8 in the fourth quarter and cut its deficit to 54-52 on a pair of free throws by Blake Volmer with 11.6 seconds to play.
Winner cut the score to 56-54 with 5.3 seconds left on a Volmer layup but another foul send Sioux Valley to the line to put the game on ice.

The Warriors shot 41 percent from the field and were 7 of 18 from the free throw line.

Volmer was the leading scorer with 22 points. Ethan Bartels and Jackson Vesely each added 8 and Aiden Barfuss, 7.

Volmer pulled down 9 rebounds. Shawn Hammerbeck had 7, Bartels, 4 and Slade Cournoyer, 3.

Bartels and Cournoyer each had 3 assists.

Barfuss had 3 steals.

Volmer and Vesely each had a man maker.

Coach Brett Gardner said the state tournament  is such a fun and exciting experience.
“Our guys battled till the very end. We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole but never gave up. We had the ball down to one possession with less than 10 seconds to go after being down 14 in the fourth quarter,” said the coach.

“We are so proud of our guys for not giving up and continuing to give ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter.”

The loss put the Warriors in the afternoon session.

Friday Winner played strong and defeated Lakota Tech 60-53.

Volmer scored 14 points and Barfuss, 13. Also scoring were Bartels, 9; Hammerbeck, Elijah Peterson, Cournoyer and Vesely all had 6.

Big on the boards, Volmer pulled down 15 rebounds. Cournoyer and Hammerbeck each had 6, Bartels, 5 and Barfuss, 3.

Peterson had 3 assists.

   “We were able to pull out a nice victory. We always say losing the first round is so hard on the student-athletes and that round  2 is all about character. Our guys were able to show pride and come out on top against a good Lakota Tech team.”
In the consolation finals on Saturday, Winner fell to Sioux Falls Christian 67-52.

Winner shot 35 percent from the field and 41 percent from the free throw line.

Volmer scored 19 points, Cournoyer, 13 and Bartels, 7.

Volmer had 9 rebounds, Cournoyer, Bartels and Barfuss, 4 each.

Coming in with two assists were Volmer, Cournoyer and Hammerbeck.

Bartels had 3 steals.

Vesely had 1 manmaker.

“We came up short in the consolation championship but it wasn’t for lack of effort. Our guys put up maximum effort. We are so proud of the way we represented the program, the team and the community. We played with heart and pride all three games,” said Gardner.

Blake Volmer was named  to the all tournament team.