Basketball gods were cruel to Custer

During the course of his season preview interview with the Custer County Chronicle, Custer High School boys basketball head coach Paul Kelley emphasized how crucial each and every game would be during the course of the upcoming season in terms of seeding come playoff time. Boy, was he ever correct.
That was on full display last Friday, as the Wildcat boys saw their season ended at the hands of the Rapid City Christian Comets in the second round of region play, sending Custer’s most talented team in the past 10 to 20 years home, and sending a bevy of talented seniors out without having ever gotten as far as the SoDak 16. It was truly a gutting loss.
There is no shame in losing to Rapid City Christian. The Comets will be in the state tournament, and are probably one of the best three teams in the state in Class A basketball. What hurts the most is that the Wildcats shouldn’t have even been playing Christian to begin with.
For most of the season it looked as if the Wildcats were on a collision course with St. Thomas More for the right to go to the SoDak 16. But, a funny thing happened on the way to that matchup—Custer lost a handful of close games and Hill City got hot.
First, the Rangers beat St. Thomas More for the first time in 38 tries. Yes, you read that correctly. Prior to this season, the last time the Rangers defeated the Cavaliers the players on this year’s teams were still seven or eight years from even being born. Then, the Rangers defeated the Wildcats. That chain of events sent the Wildcats to the fourth seed (combined with some underperforming from a few teams on Custer’s schedule) by half a point in seeding points. Instead of a potential home matchup with the Cavaliers in the second round of region play, Custer instead had to go to Hart Ranch to play Christian. Ouch.
During the regular season, the boys lost to St. Thomas More by three, Hill City by three, Rapid City Christian by four and Spearfish by seven. That’s four losses by an average of around four points. Double ouch. Did we mention each and every one of those losses was on the road? Every major game of consequence for the Wildcats was played on the road this year. Triple ouch.
Had Custer won any of those close games, had someone else on Custer’s schedule been a little better, had Hill City not defeated More or had Custer been a little healthier throughout the season, Custer would have had a higher region seed, and would probably, if not likely, still be playing. Rubbing even more salt in the wound is the fact the Rangers are likely going to be playing in the state tournament next weekend, as they had to be considered favorites over Cheyenne Eagle Butte last night in the SoDak 16. The game had not ended by press time.
Combine that with the way the girls lost as time expired in their playoff game, and it seems someone from Custer did something to anger the basketball gods. It hardly seems fair. But, as the saying goes, fair is a place young children go to show farm animals.
While this will be a season of “what ifs,” we still salute our Wildcat teams on successful seasons. Luck was not on your side this year, but we certainly were.