PAGE 6B: WINTER SPORTS 2016 PRESS & DAKOTAN ? VERMILLION PLAIN TALK The Irene-Wakonda Eagles stands at attention for the National Anthem prior to their opening game of the 2016 South Dakota State Class B Boys’ Basketball Tournament. The Eagles graduated four players from that squad, including current Northern State University player Gabe King, but feel they have the pieces to return to state. IW Looks To Keep ‘Dream’ Going Eagles Works For Return Trip To State and so I think that they are going to be determined to get back there again.” Despite losing Gabe King, who averaged 20.7 points and 10.8 rebounds in his senior year at Irene-Wakonda and BY DYLAN HUGGINS is now a member of the Northern State sports@yankton.net University men’s basketball team, Mike King said that the Eagles have what it IRENE — “It was a dream season.” takes to get back to the tournament. Those were the words of Irene“My expectations are to get back to Wakonda head coach Mike King as he the state tournament,” he said. described the 2015-16 season in which “We have enough quality kids to fill the Eagles finished second at the state spots and kind of pick up where we left tournament in Aberdeen. off.” Irene-Wakonda finished the year The Eagles will have three starters 21-5 and defeated Harding County and returning from last season, who will look Chester in the state tournament before to lead Irene-Wakonda in the upcoming losing to Warner in the state champion- season. ship game. “There’s Trey King, Tate Gale and “Other than losing the championLevi Van Beek and those guys are steady ship, it was a great year and the kids and consistent,” Mike King said. “CJ Lee played really well down the stretch,” open-enrolled from Gayville-Volin who is King said. “It all kind of came together in 6-3, athletic and will give us a little size.” the end and we beat some quality teams Gale, a junior, was the team’s secondat the state tournament.” leading scorer last season, averaging 16 King said that the experience that his points a contest. He also had 2.7 assists team gained in the 2015 season will be and 1.5 steals per game. important as they start the 2016 season. Trey King, a sophomore, averaged Tate Gale, 22, passes the ball after drawing the defense to “I think it’s huge because they know 13.7 points, 4.9 assists and 2.5 steals him during a game in the 2016 state Class B tournament. what it takes to get to that end result S.D. Boys Parkston COACH: Craig Bruening ASSISTANTS: Will Walker, FROM PAGE 5B Jim Akre VITALS: Class A, Region 5, Southeast South Dakota G), Kaden Mork (Jr., 5-10, F), Conference, Little Missouri Will Buchanan (Jr., 6-1, C), Valley Conference Spencer Nelson (8th, 5-9, F), LAST YEAR: Parkston Brady Geuther (So., 6-0, F), Sean Steffen (Fr., 5-10, F), Tate lost in the region finals and finished the season 13-10. Van Beek (Fr., 5-10, F), Brett RETURNING: Alex Scott Olson (Jr., 5-7, G), Cody Olen (Sr., 5-10, G, 5.5 ppg), Jordan (Jr., 5-8, F) NEWCOMERS: CJ Lee (Sr., McKean (Sr., 6-1, F, 3.5 ppg), 6-3, C, transfer from Gayville- Kellan Culbert (Sr., 6-2, F), Brayden Leischner (Jr., 6-1, Volin), Ralph Ishmael (Sr., 5-10, F, transfer from Gayville- F), Brady Albrecht (Jr., 6-0, F), Trenton Weber (Jr., 6-1, G), Volin) Tulsa Janish (Jr., 5-10, G) NEWCOMERS: Nathan Menno Boettcher (Fr., 5-11, G), COACH: Alex Warnke Braden Bruening (Fr., 6-1, ASSISTANT: Brian Shmuck F), Nate Doering (Fr., 6-1, F), VITALS: Class B, District 9, Rylan Leischner (Fr., 6-1, F), Cornbelt Conference Tyrese Friederich (Fr., 5-11, LAST YEAR: The Wolves G), Braydon Hurley (Fr., 5-9, went 14-9 to win their disG), Flynn Aldecoa (So., 5-9, trict, but fell in the region G), Erik Feurniss (Jr., 6-0, F), final. Cole Van Zee (Fr., 5-10, G), RETURNING: Jacob Devin Jones (So., 5-11, F) Hertz (Sr., 6-8, C, 2nd-Team All-Conference, 14.4 ppg, 7 rpg), Spencer Schultz (Jr., 6-0, Platte-Geddes COACH: Frank Cutler G, Honorable Mention AllASSISTANT: Darren Conference, 10.4 ppg, 5 apg, 3 rpg), Trey Bohlman (So., 6-2, DeNeui VITALS: Class B, District F, 7 ppg, 6 rpg) 11B, Southeast South Dakota NEWCOMERS: Hunter Conference Huber (Jr., 6-0, F), Kyle LAST YEAR: The Black Munkvold (So., 6-6, F), Logan Panthers finished with a Klaudt (So., 5-10, G), Justin Edelman (So., 6-0, F), Conner record of 7-15. RETURNING: Malichi Edelman (So., 5-7, G), Dylan Lammers (So., 5-11, G), Hunter Haberman (So., 5-7, G) Girton (Sr., 6-2, 11.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg); Ryley Hoffman (Sr., 5-10, 7.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg); Ricky Knecht (Sr., 6-2, 4.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg); Jarod Severson (Sr., 6-1); Cooper Kanthak (Sr., 6-4); Trevor Sprik (Jr., 5-10); Xavier Marshall (Jr., 5-10); Cole Nachtigal (Jr., 5-9); Jackson Johnson (Jr., 5-11); Sawyer DeGrott Scotland Boys’ Basketball FORT RANDALL TELEPHONE CO. 605-563-2863 Viborg, SD Follow@dhugg23 on Twitter. 5-9, G, 3.3 ppg, 2.1 apg), Luca D’Amato (Sr., 6-0, G), Chandler Diede (Sr., 6-2, F), Bryan Vaughn (Jr., 5-9, G, 3.5 ppg), Tanner Van Driel (Jr., 5-10, G, 4.2 ppg), Travis Skorepa (Jr., 6-5, F/C, All-LMVC, 12.3 ppg, 6 rpg), Garret Vitek (Jr., 6-3, F), Braden Wolfe (Jr., 6-0, F), Tristan Friederich (So., 5-10, F), Derek Pravacek (Fr., 5-11, F) NEWCOMERS: Ty Mogck (Fr., 5-11, G), Mason Dennis (Fr., 6-2, G/F) COACH: Bryan Fuks ASSISTANTS: Alex Esche, Dan Janssen VITALS: Class B, District 9, Tripp-DelmontLittle Missouri Valley ConferArmour ence COACH: Craig Holbeck LAST YEAR: The HighASSISTANTS: Steve Semlanders lost in the district semifinal to finish the season mler, Dylan Slate VITALS: Class B, District at 5-15. 11, Little Missouri Valley RETURNING: Tanner Conference Skorepa (Sr., 6-6, F/C, AllLMVC, 14.1 ppg, 11.7 rpg, S.D. BOYS | PAGE 7B 3.5 bpg), Chase Mogck (Sr., Dakota Valley - 2016 Region 4A Champs VIBORG-HURLEY Boys’ Basketball (V-Game at Viborg; H-Game at Hurley) 12/9 at Freeman 12/12 vs. Scotland (H) 12/16 at Irene-Wakonda (W) 12/22 at Hanson 12/29 Buseman Classic (Centerville) 1/3 vs. Tripp-Delmont-Armour (H) 1/6 vs. Elk Point-Jefferson (H) 1/12 at Gayville-Volin 1/14 vs. Bridgewater-Emery (TVC Classic-Yankton) 1/20 vs. Baltic (H) 1/24 at Alcester-Hudson 1/26 vs. Centerville (V) 1/28 Midco Sports Shootout (Madison) 1/31 vs. Canistota (H) 2/3 vs. Freeman Academy-Marion (V) 2/4 Heritage Classic (Sioux Falls) 2/10 at Parker 2/11 at Ethan 2/14 vs. Menno (V) GAYVILLE-VOLIN 12/9 at Baltic 12/13 vs. Wausa 12/16 at Alcester-Hudson 12/28 Huron Classic 1/3 at Scotland 1/6 vs. Irene-Wakonda 1/9 at Canistota 1/12 vs. Viborg-Hurley 1/14 vs. Burke-South Central (TVC Classic-Yankton) 1/17 vs. Parker 1/21 at Tripp-Delmont-Armour (T) 1/24 at Menno 1/28 Midco Sports Shootout (Madison0 2/3 vs. Bridgewater-Emery 2/7 vs. Freeman Academy-Marion 2/10 vs. Centerville 2/11 vs. Beresford 2/13 at Avon 2/16 at Freeman 2/23 at Andes Central-Dakota Chr. (AC) per game as a freshman. Van Beek, a senior, posted 5.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.3 asspsts and 2.0 steals per game last season. King also mentioned two players who could also make an impact on the court this year for the Eagles. “Dallas Lee (0.7 ppg, 0.8 rpg) and Brendan Sokolowski (0.8 ppg, 0.8 rpg) will have step up and play minutes for us this year,” Coach King said. Without the 6-6 Gabe King to patrol the middle, the Eagles will need to utilize their athleticism to wear down opponents. “We’re going to have to play our style of ball which is up-tempo and wear other teams out,” he said. “That’s kind of the style of play that we’ve played the last five or six years and I think that will lead to our success.” Irene-Wakonda’s first game of the year will be against Ponca on Dec. 10 in Ponca, Nebraska. 12/6 12/9 12/10 12/13 12/16 12/30 1/3 1/6 1/12 1/17 1/19 1/21 1/28 2/3 2/7 2/9 2/11 2/13 2/14 2/17 www.yankton.net Girls’ Basketball (V-Game at Viborg; H-Game at Hurley) 12/6 12/13 12/16 12/17 at Scotland at Bridgewater-Emery (B) at Irene-Wakonda (W) Edith Sanford Breast Center Classic (SF) 12/22 at Hanson 12/29 vs. Elk Point-Jefferson (H) 1/3 vs. Tripp-Delmont-Armour (H) 1/9 at Alcester-Hudson 1/12 at Gayville-Volin 1/14 Midco Sports Shootout (Madison0 1/16 at Freeman 1/19 at Chester Area 1/20 vs. Baltic (H) 1/23 vs. Chester Area (V) 1/28 vs. Platte-Geddes (TVC Classic-Yankton) 1/31 vs. Canistota (H) 2/3 vs. Freeman Academy-Marion (V) 2/7 vs. Avon (V) 2/10 at Parker 2/14 vs. Menno (V) Girls’ Basketball at Menno at Baltic at Dakota Valley vs. Wausa at Alcester-Hudson Parkston Classic at Scotland vs. Irene-Wakonda vs. Viborg-Hurley vs. Parker at Hartington-Newcastle at Tripp-Delmont-Armour (T) TVC Classic (Yankton) vs. Bridgewater-Emery vs. Freeman Academy-Marion vs. Mitchell Christian vs. Beresford at Avon at S.F. 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