Faith found a way of slowing down Castlewood center Bryon Laue Friday afternoon, but couldn’t stop the rest of the Warriors at Wachs Arena.

Castlewood received at least six points from six different players to help fuel a 59-49 win over the Longhorns during consolation round action in the Class B Boys’ State Basketball Tournament.

“It was a just team effort today,” said Castlewood senior Joe Decker. “That was what we talked about (Thursday) night and this morning was get more guys involved and play more loose. When we play more loose, we just have more guys doing what they usually do and that’s scoring the basketball.”

Laue, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, went off for 25 points in a setback to Lower Brule on Thursday. Meanwhile the rest of the squad had a tough time shooting the basketball. That was not the case on Friday.

“That’s what we’ve done all year,” said Castlewood coach Paul Raasch of his team’s balanced attack. “(Thursday) we just didn’t hit shots and kind of felt a little sour taste in our mouths about that.”

It became clear early on that the Longhorns were going to do their best to make life difficult for Laue in the lane. However, Castlewood was prepared for that strategy and grabbed a first-half lead as five other players stepped up and made shots.

“Their role players stepped up and hit shots when they needed them to hit shots,” said Faith coach Travis Grueb.

Decker was one of those players, accounting for eight first-half points. The senior finished with 13 total, including a trio of 3-pointers, all from the corner.

“I always liked the corner, I don’t know why,” Decker said. “I started making it from the corner and I was like maybe I should just start shooting it from the corner.”

While the Warriors played with a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half, they were never able to shake the Longhorns who closed the gap down to six in the final quarter.

“They came into this tournament with one loss,” Raasch said. ” We knew they weren’t going to give up.”

While Faith hung tough, they weren’t able to execute down the stretch. Even though the Longhorns were able to prevent Laue from big numbers on offense, they weren’t able to do much about him on defense.

“We don’t see a lot of 6-8 kids. He did mess with us a little bit, but I thought we did a good job,” Grueb said. “We kept giving ourselves those opportunities, but we just didn’t capitalize on those opportunities.”

Laue finished with 10 points, 17 rebounds and three blocked shots. He also found teammates on the perimeter for open shots.

“We knew they were going to hammer Bryon,” Decker said. “Faith is a physical team, so we knew we had to help Bryon out. Bryon’s really good at looking for those guys who are open. It’s great to have that guy.”

Lane Tvedt added 13 points to the Castlewood total. Quincy Thu contributed nine, Jamison Keszler finished with eight, and Booker Schooley had six.

“Quincy moved into the starting line up today,” Raasch said. “He’s a little bit different element. He’s a four-man that can shoot a little bit and that makes us harder to defend probably too.”

Jackson Schauer had a game-high 22 points for Faith. Caden Selby contributed 11 points and nine rebounds, and Rylan Palmer scored 10 points.

The Longhorns (22-3) face Ethan for seventh place at noon today.

“Whether we’re playing for seventh or first – obviously first is more exciting – but I’m still proud of this basketball team being here and playing together,” Grueb said.

Castlewood (19-6) meets Viborg-Hurley for fifth place at 1:45 this afternoon. Raasch is excited to be playing for the consolation championship.

“Only four Class B teams get to win their last games. We’ve got a chance to do that,” Raasch said. “I’ve always told people for years, I really believe the consolation trophy is the second best trophy in this tournament.”

FAITH (22-3): Rylan Palmer 4 2-2 10, Matthew Gray 1 0-0 2, Caden Selby 4 2-3 11, Jackson Schauer 5 10-10 22, Waycee Nelson 1 1-2 4. Totals 15-56 15-18 49.

CASTLEWOOD (19-6): Lane Tvedt 4 3-5 13, Quincy Thu 2 4-8 9, Booker Schooley 1 4-6 6, Joe Decker 5 0-0 13, Bryon Laue 4 2-4 10, Jamison Keszler 3 2-2 8. Totals 19-40 15-25 59.

Faith 8 22 34 49

Castlewood 11 27 43 59

3-point field goals – Faith 4-17 (Selby, Schauer 2, Nelson); Castlewood 6-14 (Tvedt 2, Thu, Decker 3). Fouled out – Palmer. Total fouls – Faith 23; Castlewood 14. Rebounds – Faith 37 (Gray 9, Selby 9); Castlewood 35 (Laue 17). Turnovers – Faith 12; Castlewood 16. Assists – Faith 4 (Palmer 3); Castlewood 8 (Schooley 3). Blocked shots – Faith 2 (Palmer 2); Castlewood 3 (Laue 3). Steals – Faith 8 (Nelson 3, Schauer 2); Castlewood 6 (Tvedt 2, Schooley 2).