A run of 16 unanswered points turned a deficit into a victory for Wessington Springs Friday afternoon.

The Spartans pulled away from Viborg-Hurley down the stretch for a 52-39 consolation semifinal win at the State B Boys’ Basketball Tournament at Wachs Arena.

Wessington Springs coach Kenny Huether was proud of his team for responding after Thursday’s opening round loss.

“Yesterday, we dug a hole and credit Howard for how well they played the first quarter. The last three quarters we played even with them, but you didn’t realize it because we were down so big,” Huether said. “Today, we didn’t dig that hole and we played a solid game from beginning to end.”

The opening quarter was a see-saw affair that ended with both teams deadlocked at 14 each.

Viborg-Hurley coach Galen Schoenefeld felt his team looked like itself in the opening quarter.

“Those first couple of possessions we moved the ball really well that first one and then the second one we got a transition (basket),” Schoenefeld said. “I said to the bench, I said this looks like us and I thought we carried that through for most of the rest of the quarter.”

However, the second quarter proved to be a defensive struggle as both squads combined for 14 total points. Wessington Springs focused on limiting Viborg-Hurley’s standout junior center Nick Hanson, who was held to six first-half points.

“We knew that they would give it to Nick and he’s a great ball player,” said Wessington Springs sophomore Parker Graff. “Colby (Flowers) did a great job of guarding him and I’m proud of our team. We’d help whenever they’d get him the ball and our defense was just amazing.”

While points were hard to come by for both teams, the Cougars especially struggled.

Bryson Morrison’s 3-pointer to open the period gave Viborg-Hurley a 17-14 lead with 6:15 remaining. However, the Cougars failed to score another field goal for a little more than five minutes of game time, with an Owen Niederbaumer free throw providing the only points during the span.

Sophomore Brady Schroedermeier ended the Cougars’ drought with a basket with 1:14 left in the half. He said several factors contributed to his team’s rough quarter.

“We just had a lot of turnovers and we weren’t really moving the ball well,” Schroedermeier said. “A lot of our offense we were just standing. We needed to move a lot more.”

However, Wessington Springs held just a two-point advantage at halftime after scoring just eight points in the period. Huether noted that no matter who is playing in the State B tournament, points are never a given.

“Truthfully in the B’s, unless you are ultra special, points don’t come easy,” Huether said. “I call this field, the eight teams here, a loaded field. There is nobody weak in this field. So, points aren’t going to come easy a lot of the time.”

The teams played to a near even third quarter, with the Spartans increasing their lead to a three-point margin heading into the final period.

Throughout the game, Graff came up with clutch shots to keep momentum on his team’s side, including scoring seven points in a row in the third quarter.

Graff said there was extra motivation entering Friday’s contest after the Cougars denied the Spartans a state tournament bid last season in the SoDak 16.

“I felt good during warmups. The whole team was feeling good,” Graff said. “We were more focused than we were last game and we were ready to play. This is our revenge game. We didn’t want to lose like how we did in the SoDak (16) last year.”

Wessington Springs made sure of that, with a huge spurt to secure the victory. Facing a 37-36 deficit with 6:42 left in the game, the Spartans proceeded to go on a 16-0 run in a little over six minutes to put the game away.

Graff provided five points during the pivotal surge.

“Parker Graff really sparked us,” Huether said. “He had a good ball game and a lot of other guys contributed well, but a great team win for us, and I’m happy for our kids and for our crowd.”

Graff led all scorers with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, while teammate Blake Larson had 16 points. Ryder Michalek contributed 11 points, while Brock Krueger had a team-leading eight rebounds and four assists.

Viborg-Hurley (18-7) was led by Schroedermeier with 17 points, while Hanson added 15 points and nine rebounds.

The Cougars will take on Leola-Frederick for seventh place at noon today. Schoenefeld said the team needs to keep the right perspective heading into its final game.

“We’ve faced way bigger adversity than this and way bigger life adversity than this, this year,” Schoenefeld said. “We need to just keep that perspective and be ready to bounce back (Saturday) and make sure we stick together. It’s one last chance to show everybody what our team is really about.”

Wessington Springs (23-2) will look to take home the consolation championship when it faces Gregory at 1:45 p.m. Graff hopes he and his teammates can finish the tournament strong and bring a trophy back to the community.

“Hopefully, we can get that fifth place,” Graff said, “and we can bring home something that Springs has never had before.”

WESSINGTON SPRINGS (23-2): Blake Larson 5 5-6 16, Parker Graff 7 0-2 18, Brock Krueger 1 2-4 5, Colby Flowers 1 0-0 2, Ryder Michalek 4 3-7 11. Totals 18 10-19 52.

VIBORG-HURLEY (18-7): Brady Schroedermeier 5 7-9 17, Nick Hanson 7 1-4 15, Bryson Morrison 1 0-0 3, Owen Neiderbaumer 1 1-2 4. Totals 14 9-15 39.

Wessington Springs 14 22 36 52

Viborg-Hurley 14 20 33 39

3-point field goals – Graff (4), Larson, Krueger; Morrison, Niederbaumer. Total fouls – Wessington Springs 14; Viborg-Hurley 18. Rebounds – Wessington Springs 23 (Krueger 8); Viborg-Hurley 33 (Hanson 9). Turnovers – Wessington Springs 11; Viborg-Hurley 22. Assists – Wessington Springs 7 (Krueger 4); Viborg-Hurley 10 (Schroedermeier 4). Blocks – Wessington Springs 3 (Krueger 2); Viborg-Hurley 2 (Sayler, Kolthoff). Steals – Wessington Springs 8 (Flowers 3); Viborg-Hurley 3 (Sayler 2).