By 
A stingy defense led to the biggest upset of the day.
Viborg-Hurley’s Jake Austin drives to the rim on Lyman’s MJ Diehm during the first quarter of the their Class B Boys State Tournament quarterfinal Thursday, March 19 inside the Barnett Center. Aberdeen Insider photo by Robb Garofalo.
Lyman, the No. 8 seed held top-seeded Viborg-Hurley to 31% shooting and held on for a 49-44 win in the opening game of the Class B Boys State Tournament Thursday, March 19 inside the Barnett Center.
“This is kind of one of those ‘mixed emotion’ type of things because Shane Warwick is a good friend of mine and a great coach but I’m just so proud of our guys,” said Lyman head coach Cooper Garnos. “The resilience and heart they showed, I’m just so proud of them.”
MORE: Gallery: Scenes from the 2026 State B boys basketball tournament
Lyman’s physical, pressing defense held the Cougars to 5-19 from the field in the second half. Viborg-Hurley went 1-10 from the three point line.
“Why do these eight teams get here? It’s really on the defensive end,” Garnos said. “Our ball pressure, getting up on their guards, rebounding as a team, it’s a collection of all of those things. It’s tough to win one game here but it helps if you can play really well on the defensive side and we did (Thursday).”
The Raiders also hit timely three pointers. Lyman went 1-8 in the first half but 4-8 after the break.
“How do you explain that? I mean, I can’t, it’s just one of those things,” Garnos said. “I also say it’s a simple game played with complex skills. The simple — just put the ball through the orange ring — but the complexity is what type of defense are you facing, are you being moved off your spot? Bottom line is you have to score one more point than the other team and we were able to do that.”
MJ Diehm led the Raiders with 15 points. The Cougars were led by Jake Austin who finished with 15 points.
Wittler’s performance stellar in Sully Buttes loss to Freeman
Wesley Wittler scored a game-high 28 points but it wasn’t enough as No. 2 seed Freeman held off the seventh-seeded Chargers 63-55 to advance to the championship semifinals.
Sully Buttes’ Wes Wittler takes a jump shot over Freeman’s Luke Peters (22), and Luke Miller during their Class B Boys State Tournament quarterfinal Thursday, March 19 inside the Barnett Center. Wittler scored 28 points in a 63-55 loss. Photo by Kevin Foss for the Aberdeen Insider.
The Flyers ran out to a 24-9 lead in the first quarter. Sully Buttes rallied in the second behind Wittler who scored seven of the team’s 10 points to make it a 32-21 deficit at the half.
“We just had a few shots not fall our way early in the game,” Wittler said. “Credit to (Freeman), they’re a solid team but we just started a little too slow which sucks but we showed a lot of heart in the second half.”
Wittler added eight points to his total in the third quarter, including a deep-three pointer from the top of the key that made it a 38-32 deficit with just 3:19 left. Wittler and teammates Gavin Colson and Jett Yackley all played the entire 32 minutes.
MORE: State B: Second-half surge leads Castlewood past Aberdeen Christian
“Being at state helps because you have media timeouts so you do get a few extra breaks but I know myself and most of the guys know we’ve got to grind out 32 minutes,” he said.
Wittler’s 28 points was also significant because he set the all-time scoring record for Sully Buttes.
“He’s a warrior, just a really special player,” said Sully Buttes head coach Brian White. “He wanted to win a lot more than getting a record. He’s one of the most competitive kids to be around and it’s fun to watch him play. He just really gets after it.”
A huge key for Freeman was three-point shooting. The Flyers hit 12 shots from the curve.
“(Freeman) did a good job of knocking down shots right when they needed them,” White said White. “They were momentum swings too. More than a few times we got it down to five, four points, then they’d hit a three. We’d make a big shot and they’d answer back it seemed almost every time.”
Sully Buttes will now take on De Smet at 12:45 a.m.
De Smet’s Grant Wilkinson takes a jumper over Walls’ Trevor Schultz during their Class B Boys State Tournament quarterfinal Thursday, March 19 inside the Barnett Center. Wilkinson scored a game-high 40 points but Wall came away with a 60-57 win. Photo by Kevin Foss for the Aberdeen Insider.
Wall races to first-ever semifinal appearance at State B
The Wall Eagles pushed the tempo to an early 20-9 lead in the first quarter but had to rally back in the second half to accomplish something it had never done before.
The No. 6 seeded Eagles rallied for a 60-57 win over third-seeded De Smet and advanced to their first-ever State B semifinal appearance.
Teelan Kjerstad led the charge for Wall by scoring a team-high 31 points. Nine of those 31 points came in the first quarter. Kjerstad had a pair of layups that came off turnovers creating the fast-paced offense the Eagles thrive on.
Wall’s Teelan Kjerstad lays in two of his team-high 31 points during the Eagles Class B Boys State Tournament quarterfinal win over De Smet Thursday, March 19 inside the Barnett Center.
“De Smet was the team to beat I thought, coming into state so we knew we had to play our game,” Kjerstad said. “I knew even when we got that early 11-point lead (De Smet) wasn’t going to let us just pull away and they didn’t — They came back ad got the lead in the second half but we just stuck together.”
A big reason for the Bulldogs rally was the biggest player on the court.
Six-foot-10 center Grant Wilkinson established a post presence that could not be moved.
De Smet cut that 11 point lead to one, 31-30 at the break. Wilkinson scored 14-straight points for the Bulldogs over the last 4:14 of the third quarter and had 15 of the team’s 19 third-quarter points. He finished with a double-double, scoring a game-high 40 points and grabbed a game-high 19 rebounds.
“It was good when we finally got our offense going and got our guards in space and they were able to get dump-downs to me and I was able to convert on a few,” Wilkinson said.
MORE: Basketball isn’t most important story in life of former Harlem Globetrotter Seth Franco
Wilkinson credited Wall for getting the Bulldogs out of their system in that frenetic first quarter but said they just needed to take a breath.
“We tried to keep up with them early,” he said. “They’re a fast team and we get a little wild and made some really bad passes but once we were able to slow down a little we fought back and got our offense going and got the lead, we just couldn’t close it out.”
Wall will now take on Freeman in the championship semifinal at 6:45 p.m.
“We played Freeman in the regular season and they got us but I don’t think we played our game then,” Kjerstad said. “We just have to play our game tomorrow. They have a really good team, I mean, Dave Walter is one of the better players in Class B and can do a lot of things but if we play our game we’ll be just fine.”
Class B State Boys Tournament
Quarterfinal results Thursday, March 19
Barnett Center, Northern State University
- No. 8 Lyman, 49, No. 1 Viborg-Hurley 44
- No. 5 Castlewood 53, No. 4 Aberdeen Christian 50
- No. 2 Freeman 63, No. 7 Sully Buttes 57
- No. 6 Wall 60, No. 3 De Smet 57
Friday, March 20
Consolation semifinals
- No. 1 Viborg-Hurley vs. No. 4 Aberdeen Christian, 11 a.m.
- No. 3 De Smet vs. No. 7 Sully Buttes, 12:45 p.m.
Championship semifinals
- No. 8 Lyman vs. No. 5 Castlewood, 5 p.m.
- No. 2 Freeman vs. No. 6 Wall, 6:45 p.m.
Groton Area falls to Hamlin in Class A opener
Hamlin pulled away with a 24-point fourth quarter and held off Groton Area 65-61 in the quarterfinals of the Class A Boys State Tournament Thursday, March 19 in Rapid City.
The No. 5 seed Tigers went 24-44 from the field for 54.5% shooting.
“The boys battled hard and deserved better but that’s the way it goes sometimes at the state tournament,” said Groton head coach Greg Kjellsen.
Karson Zak led the Tigers with 23 points. Zak went 10-12 from the floor.
“Karson has been playing great down the stretch,” Kjellsen said. “He’s just so athletic that when he gets downhill he’s very tough to stop.”
Groton will take on No. 8 St. Thomas More at 11 a.m. MT
Class A Boys State Tournament
Thursday, March 19 quarterfinals, Rapid City
Monument Summit Arena
- No. 1 Sioux Falls Christian 82, No. 8 St. Thomas More 59
- No. 4 Hamlin 65, No. 5 Groton Area 61
- No. 2 West Central 75, No. 7 Cheyenne-Eagle Butte 41
- No. 3 Clark/Willow Lake 66, No. 6 Stanley County 36
Friday, March 20
Consolation semifinals
- No. 5 Groton Area vs. No. 8 St. Thomas More, 11 a.m. MT
- No. 6 Stanley County vs. No. 7 Cheyenne-Eagle Butte, 12:45 p.m. MT
Championship semifinals
- No. 1 Sioux Falls Christian vs. No. 4 Hamlin, 5 p.m. MT
- No. 2 West Central vs. No. 3 Clark/Willow Lake, 6:45 p.m. MT
Class AA Boys State Tournament
March 19, quarterfinals
Monument Ice Arena
- No. 1 Sioux Falls Lincoln 69, No. 9 Tea Area 44
- No. 4 Harrisburg 65, No. 5 Watertown 61
- No. 2 Sioux Falls Roosevelt 52, No. 7 Brandon Valley 47
- No. 3 Huron 60, No. 6 O’Gorman 45
Friday, March 20
Consolation semifinals
- No. 5 Watertown vs. No. 9 Tea Area, 11 a.m. MT
- No. 6 O’Gorman vs. No. 7 Brandon Valley, 12 :45 p.m. MT
Championship semifinals
- No. Sioux Falls Christian vs. No. 4 Hamlin
- No. 2 West Central vs. No. 3 Clark/Willow Lake
