Further post-season wasn’t denied

By ML Headrick
Moody County Enterprise

FLANDREAU – Win, and move on. Lose, and go home.
The Region 3A playoff game was an atypical high school contest with chances of deeper post-season play on the line.
There was an abundance of high energy cheering, buzzer beating shots, one team down by 12 to come back and take the lead but defense wins games like this.
The Region 3A #2 seed Flandreau Fliers hosted the #3 seed Baltic Bulldogs in the finals of region boys basketball action Friday, March 6 giving the full house a thrilling game with the Fliers emerging as victors, 45-41. Earlier in the season, the Fliers lost 50-39 to the Bulldogs and were not to be outdone again.
“First off,” said Head Coach Brendan Sheppard. “What great crowd support we had and an awesome atmosphere to play a high school basketball game in.”
“We had a tremendous effort by the whole team on the defensive end,” Sheppard noted. “We did a nice job taking away their scorers. We were really clicking offensively in the first half.”
The Fliers ended the first quarter with Tate Hammer netting a buzzer beater to give his team an 11-8 lead. Despite a Baltic three by Cooper Garry as the second quarter horn sounded, the Flier won that quarter setting a 26-17 score at the half.
With a SoDak 16 ticket on the line, both teams stepped up their play in the final 16 minutes.
“The second half was tougher as the game became very physical,” noted Sheppard.
In the third quarter, the Bulldogs closed the final three and a half minutes scoring 10 unanswered points, but Flandreau kept the edge with a 36-31 score heading into the final quarter.
The Bulldog attack flowed into the fourth where they eventually tied the game at the 5:47 mark and then added a couple more baskets leading 41-39 at the 1:45 mark.
Fifteen seconds later, Xavier Bien got the Flier crowd roaring with a long three-point basket to regain the lead and the Flier defense shut the Bulldogs out in the final minute and half securing their first SoDak 16 ticket since 2022.
“We fell behind in the fourth but rallied for the victory and finished the game with three defensive stops.”
Leading the Fliers in the scorebooks was Bien who only shot from beyond the arc garnering 16 points (5 of 11) and a lone free throw. He also had three steals including a key one stopping Baltic’s last offensive drive. Alex Poitra netted 15 points for Flandreau and Luke Sheppard added 10 points with 10 rebounds. Kody Kneebone gave away five assists to help his teammates.
Both team shot pretty evenly with the Fliers netting 39 and Baltic 36 percent from the field. They both shot 4 of 8 in free throws. Flandreau had eight steals and eight turnoers and Baltic had six steals and 14 turnovers.
For the Bulldogs, their big guy in the middle, Kellen Artz was held to only nine points in a balanced scoring attack. He had 11 boards. Garry and Dylan Runestad both finished the game with eight points and Ben Erickson and Ben Berg each added seven.
The Fliers take their 15-7 record to the SoDak 16 as the 11th seed and face #6 seed, 19-2, Stanley County. The game was to be held Tuesday evening at Miller High School, 7:30 p.m. Winner heads to the State Class A Boys Tourney.

First Round–Garretson
The Fliers opened region action with a win over Garretson on Tuesday, March 3 topping the Blue Dragons, 71-66 , by shooting a sizzling 65 percent from the field.
“An exciting back and forth game for the Fliers,” said Sheppard.
“We had two contrasting styles of play and were fortunate to get the win. Kody Kneebone put together a triple double, and we received contributions from every player. We did a great job on the offensive end.”
The Blue Dragons jumped out in front to open the game and held a 15-11 advantage after a quarter. The Fliers settled in but found themselves down at the half, 30-29. The opened the second half dominating the hoops scoring 21 and holding Garretson to 12 to lead 50-42 as the fourth quarter started. Garretson got the edge in the quarter with 24 points but it wasn’t enough and the Fliers kept the lead and took the win.
Kneebone’s triple double consisted of 14 points, 10 boards and 10 assists. The Fliers were led in the score column by Sheppard’s 27 and Alex Poitra’s 21 points and his seven assists.
The Fliers were 5 of 8 from the charity stripe and swiped down 20 rebounds to Garretson’s 12.
The Blue Dragons had four of their six players in double figure scoring with Carter Siemonsma putting in 18, Brecken Weir and Collin Olson with 16 each and Jackson Arend with 10. As a team, they connected on 55 percent from the field and made 10 of 12 free throws awarded.