Ipswich sustained its first two losses of the boys' high school basketball season with a pair of Lake Region Conference setbacks last week. Warner held the Tigers to 35 points in Ipswich Thursday in a 15-point win and Ipswich then traveled to Aberdeen for a 62-46 loss to Aberdeen Christian on Saturday.

Against Warner, Ipswich hung around within striking distance the entire game, with the final margin being inflated a bit by Tigers needing to foul for possession in the late going. The visitors indeed made some crucial fourth-quarter free throws! (They had led 11-7 after a quarter, 21-14 at halftime and 31-28 with a quarter to play.)

Jacob Nierman was the Tigers' leading scoring with a dozen points, including two of his team's three treys. Ben Kulesa scored eight points. Reece Moehlenbrink, Max Geditz and Will Kadlec each added four points and Ty Kadlec that other trey, that briefly knotted the score at 31-31 early in the final quarter. (Will Kadlec led Ipswich in assists with four.)

Warner, meanwhile, only landed four players in its scoring ledger, led by Daylin Simon with a game-high 15 points and Ben Fischbach and Jackson McNeil were next with 13 points apiece. Will Nilsson capped it with three points.

Their team shot 19-45 from the floor including seven treys and was 5-7 in free throw attempts. Ipswich countered with a 15-48 shooting night including that trio of treys and a 2-4 free throw effort.

Ipswich narrowly won the rebound battle 31-29 led by Daniel Braun's seven retrieves. Each team committed 11 turnovers in a well-played floor game.

Meanwhile, against AC, the hosts seized the early momentum with 11 straight points, before Ipswich could get on the board with a Nierman basket. The Knights then maintained that 11-point cushion, 17-6, after a quarter and expended their lead to 12 points, 29-17 at intermission.

But Ipswich chipped away at that shortfall in the second half and trailed 41`-33 at the third break. Ipswich's last closest deficit, was seven points, 45-38, after a Will Kadlec dribble drive. The hosts out-scored Ipswich 21-13 in the final quarter to ice their win and stay undefeated.

Will Kadlec finished with 18 points to lead all scorers including a trey. Ty Kadlec was next with nine points and he featured a pair of treys. Next was Nierman with seven points including a trey. Geditz scored his three points on a trey and Braun also finished with three points. Credit Moehlenbrink, Carson Simes and Jaden Onken with two points apiece to complete the ledger.

The hosts were led by Jackson Becker with 16 points, followed by Andrew Rohrbach with 14 points and Nehemiah Becker with 12 counters. Three other Knights got into their scorebook.

Ipswich totaled 14 floor shots of which five were those treys and was 13-18 at the line. The Knights also included five treys in their arsenal and fueled their win with 32 rebounds.

The Tiger boys, now 5-2, play at another LRC foes' homecourt, Northwestern, in Mellette on January 10. The boys will also now host Waubay/Summit (boys only) on January 11 in the Tiger Den. The IHS boys will next host non-league rival Groton on January 15.