Edmunds County Tribune -

Ipswich closed out its boys' varsity basketball campaign with a 73-59 Region 2B bracket championship loss last Friday evening at Lower Brule. (Potter County captured the other Region 2B bracket championship.)

Meanwhile the Tiger loss closed out their varsity season at 14 wins and eight losses. The IHS seniors will definitely be missed, alphabetically, Trevor Beyers, Zach Geditz, Carson Gohl, Ty Kadlec, Luke Peterson and Taylor Thorson.

The Sioux would obtain a 20-16 first-quarter lead and then manufactured a double-digit 32-22 scoring edge at intermission. That was after a Trevor Beyers layup which had drawn the Tigers to within two points, 22-20. Trevor Beyers would also then manage a third-quarter opening trey and the Tigers would continue to hang around. But the home team would create even more separation with a 57-36 advantage with a quarter to play.

Taylor Thorson's basket would jump start a final-quarter Tiger rally which was capped by a Zach Geditz trey. But the game clock would become the host team's ally as Ipswich did outscore its hosts 23-16 in the fourth stanza.

Ipswich was led in scoring by Taylor Thorson with 22 points, including one trey. Next were Trevor Beyers and Ty Kadlec with eight points apiece. And Trevor Beyers included a pair of treys, while Kadlec netted one trey. Ian Beyers contributed six points with his two treys and Trevor Heinz also tallied six points as did Carter Geditz and he included one trey. Zach Geditz would round out the evening with that trey.

The hosts got seven players in their own scorebook which featured no fewer than five double-figure scorers, led by Bryan LaRoche Jr. with 16 points. Next would be Gavin Thigh with 15 points, followed by Keshaume Thigh with 13 points. Lane Gray had 12 points and Ellwyn Langdeau scored 11 points and added seven rebounds. Trevin McBride and Trudell Langdeau each added three points to their cause.

Ipswich ended up shooting 23-37 from the floor which included those seven treys. The Tigers were 6-13 in their free throw attempts. But the Sioux would include nine treys among their 26 accurate floor shots. Overall, they were a warm 50% from the floor. They added a 12-17 free throw evening.

Ipswich obtained 26 rebounds, Lower Brule, 17. The Tigers were led by Taylor Thorson with his nine boards, almost a double-double. Gohl and Ian Beyers were each next with four retrieves.

The hosts only committed nine turnovers, protecting the basketball quite well. Ipswich would sustain 26 turnovers, 15 of which were directly caused by Sioux steals.

Lower Brule and Potter County were the 2B bracket champions. They were scheduled to play in the SoDak 16 Tournament on March 8 – Lower Brule vs. Viborg-Hurley and Potter County vs. Ethan. Winners would play in the State B Tournament in Aberdeen March 17-19.