Shooting woes again cost Wildcats

What was for the most part a season-long issue reared its ugly head again for the Custer High School boys basketball team last Tuesday evening in Lead.
The Wildcats once again struggled with shooting—particulary from behind the arc—as the homestanding Golddiggers used a 40-20 advantage in the second half to pull away for a 69-51 win the first round of Region 8A play.
The loss ended Custer’s season at 5-16.
The Wildcats finished the game hitting only one of 19 three-point attempts in the game, with the one coming from eighth-grader Carter Cooper with six seconds remaining in the game.
For the season, the Wildcats shot 22 percent from deep.
“As a coach you watch them knock them down in practice and hope it translates to the games and it didn’t do that for us this year,” head coach Tayton Vincent said. “Hopefully that’s something we can change this summer—get some shots up and get confident and comfortable with our shooting.”
Much like they had their prior game against Hill City the Wildcats had a strong first half, this despite falling behind 10-2 to start the game following a Garrett Rantapaa three-pointer.
From there the Wildcats went on an 11-5 run, including a pair of baskets from Brady Virtue, one of which was off a Zach Cooper drive and dish that put the Wildcats on top 13-11.
The second quarter was a back and forth affair, as the teams exchanged the lead nine times. At the 4:44 mark a Virtue putback of an Ian Schiffer miss put the Wildcats on top 22-21 before the Golddiggers scored four straight points. By the end of the first half, however, the Wildcats had reclaimed the lead, taking a 31-29 advantage into the break.
The ’Diggers started to separate in the third quarter, and went up 39-34 off an Enzo Stone basket off a fast break at the 2:46 mark, and scored again before Virtue drove for a basket to stop the Lead run.
Virtue, in his final game in a Wildcat uniform, poured in 25 points.
“Brady didn’t want his career to end there. He came out firing and attacking them. (Fellow senior) Regan (Sorenson) battled on every possession and did a lot of things defensively and was able to get the ball fed into Brady,” Vincent said. “He left it out there on he floor trying to make plays down the stretch. I can’t thank our three seniors (including Jaden Chee-Fisher) enough for the year they gave me. They were all in and left it on the court in this one for sure.”
Custer was within five in the fourth quarter following a Virtue reverse layup, but from there the Golddiggers poured it on as the Wildcats began to turn the ball over while the ’Diggers found their range from deep and turned Wildcat turnovers into layups.
Vincent said Lead’s switch to a zone defense in the second half proved key, as the Wildcats couldn’t make any outside shots against the zone.
“When shots aren’t falling it can get frustrating. I give all the guys credit for continuing to take shots when they were open,” he said. “In the games we knocked down shots, we won. You hope they learn from it.”
Vincent said one can judge this year’s team by its final record, but he prefers to judge it by the improvement it experienced over the course of the season, saying some its best halves of basketball and its best practices all took place late in the season. An inability to put together 32 full minutes ultimately cost the team, however.
“Those eight to 16 minutes we didn’t have it were the difference in some of those games. Hopefully our younger players follow the lead of the seniors and continue what they started and carry it over and close out some of those close games,” Vincent said. “It was a lot of fun to be around the guys. They were invested all the way through.”
Although the Wildcats lose Virtue, Sorenson and Chee-Fisher, they return a bevy of young talent. Vincent said if the players will compete in the different things they are doing, find time to get in the weight room and get shots up, the arrow is pointing up for Custer boys basketball.
“When you go (to the gym) take a friend. If you take a buddy and get something out of it, compete against each other, the competition drives an extra gear when you need it late in the game,” he said. “We have guys who have been in the gym and want to be in the gym. We will learn how to play together in summer team camps and take advantage of those opportunities.”
Custer    11    20    7    13    —51
LD    13    16    17    23    —69
Custer—Cheydon McPhee 0-2 0-0 0, Mason Dirkes 2-7 1-3 5, Brady Virtue 10-21 5-7 25, Carter Cooper 1-2 0-0 3, Jayse Noem 0-1 0-0 0, Curtis Sorenson 0-1 0-0 0, Ian Schiffer 2-4 3-4 7, Regan Sorenson 4-10 1-3 9, Zach Cooper 1-8 0-0 2. Totals: 20-58 10-17 51.
Lead-Deadwood—Levi Hall 0-0 2-2 2, Enzo Stone 4-8 4-8 13, Garrett Rantapaa 3-8 2-2 10, Elias Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Canon Rogers 6-12 4-6 19, Blake Janssen 7-13 4-5 19, Cooper Hansen 3-4 0-0 6, Brady Rantapaa 0-4 0-0 0. Totals: 23-50 16-23 69.
Three-point goals: Custer 1 (C. Cooper), LD 7 (Rogers 3, G. Rantapaa 2, Stone, Janssen). Rebounding: Custer 31 (Dirkes 8), LD 34 (Janssen 8, G. Rantapaa 8). Steals: Custer 6, LD 10. Assists: Custer 4, LD 10. Turnovers: Custer 17, LD 15. Total fouls: Custer 22, LD 17. Fouled out: R. Sorenson.