Winner's shock over St. Thomas More won't be shocking soon: Hanson boys basketball Classic notes

Winner guard Aiden Barfuss and his teammates “mess around” with fadeaway jumpers and difficult shots in practice all the time, so when the shot clock wound down in the third quarter against St. Thomas More, the step-back 3-pointer he seemingly fired in desperation wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen.

“Those are shots we've practiced quite a bit, but we never think actually shoot them in a game,” Barfuss said. “I guess it happened right there.”

It still provided a shock anyway: it fell, and with each one that did thereafter, it seemed like undefeated Class A power St. Thomas More was running out of ways to respond. The Cavaliers did all they could, but Winner just had more in Saturday’s 51-46 win over St. Thomas More at the Hanson boys basketball Classic in the Corn Palace.

Winner, just 11 days removed from a 66-32 loss to Pierre where it got “embarrassed,” provided one of Saturday’s biggest statements. It took vows to “never let that (Pierre game) happen again” to a matchup with a ranked Class A team and, in the process, perhaps turned themself into one of the top teams in a competitive Class A, too.

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The Warriors (9-1) were just a one-loss team entering Saturday, but against one of the top scorers in South Dakota in Caleb Hollenbeck, the Cavaliers looked primed to be one of the best teams in Class A this year. But when there’s a defensive assignment to be had, Winner forward Blake Volmer “wants it,” Warriors head coach Brett Gardner said.Volmer went over 1,000 points Saturday (1,001 for his career), but Winner knows him for his defense. Volmer had the assignment of stopping Hollenbeck all night, allowing him to put 17 points on the board but forcing him into 6-of-25 shooting. At several times Saturday and throughout any number of individual matchups, Gardner would look for moments to give Volmer a rest.

“No,” Volmer would say. “I want him.”

“And that's how it is every game: (Pierre’s) Lincoln Kienholz and Caleb Hollenbeck and down the road and we have some of those big matchups,” Gardner said. “He thrives and strives because he wants to be the best defensive player in the state. And, arguably, he's up there.”

Randy Rosenquist is the initiator of a dominant Dakota Valley team that, sometimes, you just won’t stop

Randy Rosenquist didn’t need to look. Dakota Valley’s point guard knew where the ball was going. A shot careened off the rim in such a way that Sioux Valley center Alex Squites, who was closest to the ball, couldn’t secure it. Fortunately for the Panthers, the ricochet landed softly in the hands of Rosenquist, who set his eyes on the perimeter, so that’s where the Sioux Valley defense looked, too.

Wrong way. By the time the Cossacks realized an open guard Isaac Bruns under the basket, Rosenquist had already hit him with a no-look overhead pass for the assist. It was one of eight he had in a game in a near-triple-double for the senior lead guard, adding 21 points and 11 rebounds. In a highly-anticipated point guard battle between Rosenquist and dynamic Sioux Valley guard Oliver Vincent, Rosenquist provided consistency throughout the game by breaking down the defense at every opportunity and creating chaos on the defensive side with four steals.

South Dakota men’s basketball signee Isaac Bruns scored 31 points in the game and gets a lot of credit for the dominance that has been the last two years of Panthers basketball, with the defending undefeated Class A state champions winning their 37th-straight game Saturday, but Rosenquist was electric — and borderline unstoppable. Together, they make up perhaps the state’s best backcourt, and no one’s come close to slowing them yet.

“The game has just slowed down for me,” Rosenquist said. “I've learned that this person goes there and he should be open. I’ve grown as a player in all different aspects.”

Hanson’s Ethan Cheeseman leads strong Beavers team by doing less

How does a team stop a 6-foot-7 forward who plays on the perimeter like Gregory’s Daniel Mitchell?

“It helps when I got a guy that could do that, too,” Hanson head coach Josh Oltmanns said.

Beavers forward Ethan Cheeseman is no surprise for what he could do on the court, a 6-foot-3 forward who can drive to the rim, shoot the three and guard the perimeter. But in Hanson’s 50-38 win over Class B Gregory, Cheeseman made an impact by allowing another on the court, junior guard Jayce Slaba to star.

Slaba had 19 points in the game and Cheeseman said that’s the main difference this year. Hanson (5-4) has a much more filled-out roster this year, and though it has led to some inconsistency early, Saturday was a big step in finding its rhythm.

“We’re working hard in practice,” Cheeseman said. “We keep pushing ourselves to get better.”

After De Smet win, Hamlin keeps on making the most of its size

Hamlin head coach Todd Neuendorf made it clear: Hamlin didn’t stop De Smet’s Damon Wilkinson. Neuendorf said the Chargers schemed a bit for its matchup with the Bulldogs, a 57-55 win on Jan. 17: It wasn’t man-to-man, it wasn’t zone, it wasn’t “junk defense,” either. It worked. But Wilkinson still had 25 points and 25 rebounds.

Hamlin, to an extent, just can’t deal with that size. But that hasn’t impacted the Chargers too much this year as it's off to a 7-2 start, most recently notching a 73-48 win against Mount Vernon/Plankinton. The game is one where Chargers 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Zac VanMeeteren and the rest of Hamlin’s lineup actually matched up well with the Titans, and the result was a plus-nine rebound differential. Hamlin keeps making the most of the size it has, allowing its perimeter stars like sophomore guard Easton Neuendorf (18 points) and junior forward Tyson Stevenson (24 points) to lead.

“I know people aren't gonna see the points side of them, but Zac VanMeeteren and (sophomore forward) Dawson Noem, they just do all that dirty work down on the post,” Neuendorf said. “They're really good.”

Follow Sioux Falls Argus Leader reporter Michael McCleary on Twitter @mikejmccleary.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Winner's win over STM won't be shocking soon: Hanson BBB Classic notes