Boys beat Newcastle, fall to Spearfish

It was an up and down week for the Custer High School boys basketball team last week, as it started the week with a resounding win over the visiting Newcastle, Wyo., Dogies before losing in the same convincing fashion two nights later against the visiting Spearfish Spartans.
The Spartans wasted little time jumping on the Wildcats last Thursday, going up 9-0 in the first quarter on the way to a 58-38 victory.
Custer’s first points of the game didn’t come until the 4:13 mark of the first quarter when Brady Virtue scored.
The Wildcats were down 10 following a Kamren Davis three-pointer, and were behind 25-9 early in the second quarter following five straight points from Karsen Seyer, the final three of which prompted a timeout from Vincent.
While the Wildcats struggled to get anything going against the Spearfish defense the Spartans made hay inside, scoring 36 points in the paint on the way to a 51 percent shooting night.
“They were going to be solid regardless of where they ended up being,” head coach Tayton Vincent said. “They were patient on the offensive side of things and let things develop. As a result of that they were able to get easy shots.”
The Wildcats went into the half down 20, and by the time Davis scored on a basket on which he was fouled and Seyer hit another three-pointer, the Wildcats were down 54-23, enacting the running clock while the Spartans emptied their bench for the fourth quarter.
“They were able to take us out of a lot ot things. They played physical and made early shots and were able to get good looks on the offensive side of things and were knocking them down,” Vincent said.
Virtue was the only Wildcat in double figures in the game, scoring 11 points.
Despite the loss, Vincent said he was happy with the way his team responded to the physicality of playing a Class AA school, saying it did so better than it had against Sturgis or Douglas earlier in the season.
“When we shoot 30 percent it’s fair they are going to have more defensive rebounds. We only turned the ball over 14 times,” he said.
Vincent pointed out the Wildcats only went to the free throw line five times, saying the team has to find ways to get the ball to the basket.
“You can’t settle from the three-point line if you want to shoot free throws,” he said.
Things went the exact opposite way for the Wildcats Feb. 10 against Newcastle as it was the Wildcats who were up 9-0 early following a Mason Dirkes three-pointer.
The ’Cats continued to pour it on from there, as Cheydon McPhee scored on a drive, Veek Johncour scored on the break off a steal and Zach Cooper buried a three-pointer that put Custer up 16-4.
“I thought we came out with the mentality we wanted to win that game and were the better team,” he said. “We were able to rotate a lot of guys. We were finding each other on the offensive side. Twenty assists is the big number that jumps out to me.”
It was more of the same in the second quarter, as Custer went up 24-9 following a Regan Sorenson-to-Virtue alley-oop for a layup, for which Virtue returned the favor a few minutes later as Sorenson’s basket gave Custer a 35-16 lead.
McPhee buried a three-pointer moments later, and the Wildcats led the shorthanded Dogies 40-18 at the half.
The Wildcats hit 12 three-pointers as a team in the game, shooting 48 percent from beyond the arc.
“We have guys who are capable of it,” Vincent said of the hot three-point shooting, while adding players who didn’t shoot during the offseason are now catching up with their shooting thanks to practice.
In a statistical oddity, the Wildcats did not attempt a single free throw the entire game. Newcastle was only whistled for three fouls. 
McPhee hit another three-pointer to start the third quarter, and then made a nice pass to Sorenson for an easy basket later on to give Custer a 25-point lead. By the time Jaden Chee-Fisher buried a corner three-pointer Custer had taken a 50-25 lead, and Newcastle never got much closer.
“We came out super aggressive in the first half. The second half we weren’t quite as disciplined in getting to some of the spots,” Vincent said. “We had a win, but we can be better than we were in the second half. We have to stay detailed so we can surprise some times in the postseason.”
Virtue led the scoring charge with 16 points, while McPhee had 11 and Sorenson added 11 and a team-high seven rebounds.
The Wildcats, now 5-13 on the season, will close out the regular season over the next five days as they head to Lead for a matchup with the Golddiggers Thursday evening before returning home for senior night against the Rangers of Hill City. That game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.
The ’Diggers sit at 10-9 on the season and are just ahed of the Wildcats in the regional standings.
“They’ve gone out and got some wins and beat some teams they haven’t in the past,” Vincent said. “They played a lot of summer basketball. When you start to find some of that success you see the wins add up and the confidence gets more and more.  We have to match how hard they play on every possession and I think we will be just fine.” 
The Rangers are 10-7 and feature the one-two punch of Zane Messick and Dax Frandsen, although Vincent said the Rangers’ role players play their roles well.
“They can get hot on any given night and be tough to beat,” he said. 
Custer    7    6    10    15    —38
Spearfish    18    17    19    4    —58
Custer—Cheydon McPhee 0-1  3-3 3, Mason Dirkes 3-11 0-0 7, Brady Virtue 4-16 2-2 11, Regan Sorenson 3-7 0-0 7, Zachary Cooper 3-9 0-0 7, Jaden Chee-Fisher 1-3 0-0 3. Totals: 14-47 5-5 38.
Spearfish—Bennett Kortan 2-2 2-4 6, Kamren Davis 4-6 1-1 10, Samuel Marcus 0-1 0-0 0, Mason Southern 1-4 0-2 3, Karsen Seyer 4-5 0-0 10, Isaac Wilson 0-4 2-22, Alex Eisner 0-1 0-0 0, Thomas Hughes 2-7 0-0 4, Kade Vavruska 5-8 0-2 10, Tucker Olson 1-2 0-0 2, Cooper Gibbs 2-3 0-0 4, Ashar Hodgs 3-4 1-2 7. Totals: 24-47 6-13 58.
Three-point goals: Custer 5 (Dirkes, Virtue, Sorenson, Cooper, Chee-Fisher), Spearfish 4 (Seyer 2, Southern, Davis). Rebounding: Custer 25, Spearfish 32. Steals: Custer 8, Spearfish 8. Assists: Custer 9, Spearfish 15. Turnovers: Custer 14, Spearfish 11. Total fouls: Custer 11, Spearfish 9. Fouled out: none.
Custer    20    20    10    14    —64
Newc    7    11    8    19    —45
Custer—Cheydon McPhee 4-5 0-0 11, Mason Dirkes 2-6 0-0 5, Brady Virtue 7-11 0-0 16, Curtis Sorenson 1-6 0-0 3, Carter Cooper 1-2 0-0 3, Kawika Johncour 1-3 0-0 2, Ian Schiffer 0-2 0-0 0, Devon Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Regan Sorenson 5-10 0-0 11, Zachary Cooper 3-9 0-0 8, Jaden Chee-Fisher 2-4 0-0 5. Totals: 26-59 0-0 64.
Newcastle, Wyo.—Dustin McCarthy 5-9 2-4 13, Kyan Allen 5-14 1-1 11, Colten Hatheway 1-4 0-0 2, Teddy Troftgruben 7-17 2-2 16, Coen Tavegie 1-5 0-0 3, Davyn Hoffman 0-1 0-0 0, Landen Hill 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 19-52 5-7 45.
Three-point goals: Custer 12 (McPhee 2, Z. Cooper 2, Virtue 2, Dirkes, C. Sorenson, C. Cooper, R. Sorenson, Chee-Fisher), Newcastle 2 (McCarthy, Tavegie). Rebounding: Custer 35 (R. Sorenson 7), Newcastle 28 (Troftgruben 7). Steals: Custer 8, Newcastle 4. Assists: Custer 20, Newcastle 10. Turnovers: Custer 13, Newcastle 15. Total fouls: Custer 16, Newcastle 3. Fouled out: none.