Viborg-Hurley found its way through the press to collect seventh place at the Class B Boys’ Basketball State Tournament.

The Cougars outlasted Leola-Frederick 84-75 Saturday afternoon at Wachs Arena.

While Viborg-Hurley still had issues with turnovers, the Cougars were able to overcome them against the pressure defense of the Titans.

“Yesterday we were kind of just throwing the ball away,” Cougars sophomore Brady Schroedermeier said. “We were expecting people to cut and cut, and we were guessing. Today, we knew what was going to happen and we had to plan it out.”

Viborg-Hurley had issues with turnovers throughout the tournament and still had 23 on Saturday, but was able to balance them out by getting numerous transition baskets, as well as forcing Leola-Frederick into 20 turnovers.

“It was a lot more balanced today,” Viborg-Hurley coach Galen Schoenefeld said of the turnover battle. “And we had quite a few, but we also had a lot of easy baskets. That made a big difference. We weren’t getting some of those shots the other two days.”

While Leola-Frederick continued to full-court press the entire game, playing for the third day in a row took a bit of a toll on the Titans.

“We knew our press was going to be a little off because we played two games in a row,” said Leola-Frederick senior Brayden Sumption. “We’re a little sore, but we did more rotations this game, so we tried making that better, but it was still a little off and they broke it pretty well.”

The Cougars built an early lead as they were able to break the Titans press for layups throughout the first half.

“Just tried to have good spacing and getting some cutters through the middle and things like that,” Schoenefeld said. “I thought for the most part our kids did a pretty good job. We floated some passes and things like that, but they’re not going to be perfect and we definitely did enough to win, and I’m proud of that.”

The Cougars shot 61-percent from the field in the first half and finished the game shooting 67-percent, with many of those baskets coming from high-percentage shot after breaking the Leola-Frederick press.

“They were pressing so they were doubling and a lot of backside was open and we were getting easy layups,” Schroedermeier said. “(Friday) we had a lot of turnovers and we just had to cut those down. We had to meet all the passes, because they were wanting to come and deflect everything.”

The Cougars led 16-10 after one quarter and 34-29 at halftime as Leola-Frederick dealt with its own turnovers and struggled to contain Viborg-Hurley center Nick Hanson.

“You got to take the bad with the good,” said Titans coach Brock Pashen. “They’re big gave us troubles, and all weekend it was just a lot of bigs that are good and talented. I felt we handled them as best we could. We played it at our pace and that’s what we wanted to do.”

Breaking the Titans press gave other Viborg-Hurley players the chance to step up and make plays, including seniors Devin Sayler and Bryson Morrison. The Cougars finished with four players in double figures.

“That’s a big change from yesterday, but 84 points is a lot,” Schoenefeld said of the balanced scoring effort. “We were able to get Devin some easy baskets and he converted. Bryson had a good overall game for us. He handled the ball a lot against pressure.”

Sayler said each player is able to adjust to different roles, which makes the team more versatile.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys, a lot of senior leadership,” Sayler said. “Every game someone has a different role, whether it’s scoring, playing defense, and you just got to find it and roll with it.”

After a Sumption basket early in the third quarter cut the Cougars lead down to three, Viborg-Hurley stretched its lead to as many as 16 in the second half. Sumption felt the Titans could have done more early in the contest to put themselves in a better position late in the game.

“It was a tough game,” Sumption said. “I just think we could’ve done better at the beginning of the game to put us in a better spot for the end. We were just down too much at the end and we couldn’t do anything about it.”

Sumption finished with a team-high 19 points, including four 3-pointers, in his final game as a Leola-Frederick Titan. He reflected on what it meant to represent his team and the community in his final game.

“It means everything,” Sumption said. “I feel like we tried our hardest and we had a decent game, we just couldn’t finish it.”

Noah Kippley had 15 points, while Gavin Nickelson and Winston Clark each had nine for Leola-Frederick. Milo Sumption added eight.

The Titans ended their season with a 22-4 record, and will lose four seniors. Pashen noted how much they have meant to the program.

“There’s a lot of different types of leadership, and Brayden, Taylor (Himanga), Austin (Jenkins), and Connor (Spitzer) all exemplify the different kinds of leadership that there are,” Pashen said. “We’ll obviously miss them and what they brought every day. I feel like they all had a moment at the State B that they’ll remember.”

Pashen was also proud of how his team fought throughout its first tournament in nearly two decades.

“Clearly there was a whole lot of fight,” Pashen said. “They fought and scrapped all three games. Those were three close games in an awesome environment, but I couldn’t be more proud of just what they did in just an awesome season, and I’ll tell them these last three shouldn’t ruin the whole season of what happened.”

The Cougars, who finish their season with a 19-7 record, were led by Schroedermeier with 25 points, while Hanson recorded 19 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists. Morrison had 12 points, while Sayler finished with 11.

Viborg-Hurley will also graduate four seniors.

“Super proud of them,” Schoenefeld said. “Bryson and Devin, they both played really, really well today. Josh (Roth) didn’t get a lot of playing time, but earlier in the year it was important when we had some injuries and stuff. He stepped up big in those times. Kobee (Sherman) has been there for everybody as much as he could. (He’s) been a vocal leader and almost another coach on the bench for us.”

Sayler described what it meant to close out his Cougar career with a win.

“It feels good. I know the community loves this stuff,” Sayler said. “It just feels good to bring back something that they can cherish for a while. We didn’t get what wanted in the long term, but I think everyone had a good weekend.”

While the Cougars would have been happier with a higher finish in the tournament, Schoenefeld felt the win gave the team a boost heading into the offseason.

“Obviously it’s nice to go in with some momentum,” Schoenefeld said. “It’ll be a springboard for the things we want to do throughout the summer.”

Schroedermeier echoed those words.

“This game is going to help us prepare for next year,” Schroedermeier said. “We’re going to feed off of this game.”

LEOLA-FREDERICK (22-4): Brayden Sumption 6 3-4 19, Gavin Nickelson 2 5-6 9, Noah Kippley 6 2-2 15, Milo Sumption 4 0-0 8, Ethan Petrich 1 0-0 2, Westyn Thorpe 2 0-0 5, Taylor Himanga 1 0-0 3, Winston Clark 4 0-0 9, Titus Kippley 1 1-2 3, Erik Losure 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 11-14 75.

VIBORG-HURLEY (19-7): Devin Sayler 4 3-6 11, Nolan Kolthoff 3 1-2 7, Brady Schroedermeier 11 1-2 25, Nick Hanson 9 1-7 19, Bryson Morrison 3 5-7 12, Braydyn Morrison 1 2-2 5, Owen Niederbaumer 1 0-0 3, Rafe Goettertz 1 0-0 2. Totals 33 13-26 84.

Leola-Frederick 10 29 48 75

Viborg-Hurley 16 34 60 84

3-point field goals – B. Sumption (4), N. Kippley, W. Thorpe, Himanga, Clark; Schroedermeier (2), Bryson Morrison, Braydyn Morrison, Niederbaumer. Total fouls – Leola-Frederick 24; Viborg-Hurley 17. Rebounds – Leola-Frederick 22 (T. Kippley 4); Viborg-Hurley 31 (Hanson 11). Turnovers – Leola-Frederick 20; Viborg-Hurley 23. Assists – Leola-Frederick 9 (Nickelson 3); Viborg-Hurley 18 (Hanson 5). Blocked shots – Viborg-Hurley 3 (Kolthoff, Hanson, Braydyn Morrison). Steals – Leola-Frederick 13 (Nickelson 3); Viborg-Hurley 8 (Sayler 2, Bryson Morrison 2).