Custer falls to Rapid City Christian in regional play

If you ask Custer High School head boys basketball coach Paul Kelley where things got away from his Wildcats last Friday night in the second round of regional play, he points to the third quarter.
The Wildcats were hanging tough down 11, but late in the quarter the Wildcats fouled Rapid City Christian’s Benson Kieffer on a three-pointer, sending him to the line for three free throws, all of which he made.
Then, with mere seconds left in the quarter, Custer tried to inbound the ball to half court, but the pass was bobbled and fell into the hands of Christian’s Joaquin Petrik, who heaved the ball toward the basket from half court as time expired in the quarter.
Nothing but net.
That turned an 11-point deficit into a 57-40 deficit, deflating the Wildcats and propelling the Comets to a 76-53 win, sending the Comets into the SoDak 16 and ending Custer’s season.
“That was a huge turning point in the game,” Kelley said of that sequence.
Custer spent most of the game attempting to play catch up after falling behind 7-0 to start the game before a standing room-only crowd.
The Wildcats were able to battle back to 13-9 by the 2:33 mark of the first quarter largely on the back of Cody Dirkes, who had 21 points and eight rebounds in his final game as a Wildcat.
Just as Custer closed the gap Kieffer hit a three-pointer for three of his game-high 28 points, and scored again on a steal to put the Comets up 20-11.
Moments later Custer’s Rhett Lowe was fouled as he attempted a three-pointer, and made all three freebies to make the score 20-14. That was as close as Custer would ever get again.
Custer was within eight at 29-21 after a Cade Lehman three-pointer, but Christian slowly started to grow the lead despite Kieffer being relegated to the bench due to picking up his third foul.
Lars Kieffer buried a corner three for the Comets, and the Wildcats suffered from a rash of turnovers from the swarming Comets defense. The Wildcats committed 18 points in the game, which led to 21 Comet points.
“They are good. You have to beat them,” Kelley said of the Comets. “They’re not going to beat themselves. We knew it was going to be a battle and they jumped on us right away. I thought we would show some poise and come back, but we were unable to. Defensively, they harassed us into some bad turnovers that led to easy points.”
Dirkes scored a basket on which he was fouled to try to keep the Wildcats in the game late in the second quarter, again trimming the Comet lead to 11. He followed that by opening the third quarter with a corner three-pointer.
The Wildcats were within 10 at 43-33 after Lehman drove for a basket and was fouled at the 4:28 mark of the quarter, but minutes later the Comets rattled off the flurry of points to finish the quarter.
The Wildcats made one last fourth quarter run, sparked by an Ayden Petz three-pointer and a long three from Lowe that got Custer within 14, but the Wildcats were outscored 14-5 the rest of the game.
Dirkes was the only Wildcat to score in double figures, and the combination of Lowe and Lehman, which had scorched the Comets in the regular season matchup, were held to eight and six points, respectively, as the Comets made it a point to defend them more closely than the first matchup. The Wildcats shot just under 40 percent in the game.
“We went to our ‘big three’ and told them ‘you guys need to produce,’” Kelley said, saying the Comets did a strong job on Custer’s guards. “They made it hard. Not getting very many open looks hurt.”
Kelley praised the play of Dirkes, saying he came on strong over the last few weeks of the season.
“He gets better as the season progresses. We had no hesitancy getting him the ball inside,” he said.
Custer’s other starting post, Kyle Virtue, was limited to eight points, despite Kelley saying the team went into the game determined to get Virtue the ball.
“The timing was off. We couldn’t get it to work,” he said.
Kelley said while most teams double Virtue Christian does not, instead relying on the defense of Wes Schlabach in the post.
“Defensively he shuts everyone’s best player down. He’s strong, and he’s physical,” Kelley said.
Kelley said the loss was hard to swallow, saying he told his team if they were going to lose, they should lose playing to their identity, which he said wasn’t the case.
“We didn’t do little things that build momentum,” he said, pointing to Kieffer’s 28 points and his team’s inability to help on Kieffer after he beat Custer’s first-line defender. “I didn’t think we played to our identity. We were on our heels too much.”
The Wildcats opened regional play March 4 against Lead-Deadwood, cruising to a 66-42 win.
The Golddiggers hung around in the first quarter, cutting Custer’s lead to 12-9 with 2:47 left in the first quarter thanks to a Beau Wichterman putback of a teammate’s miss.
From there Custer went on a 9-3 run, which included a Brady Virtue baseline drive and basket, followed by a Kyle Virtue hesitation move for two.
It was the second quarter where the Wildcats began to establish dominance, which started with Kyle Virtue hitting a three-pointer, followed by Brady Virtue scoring and being fouled. After the made free throw, Custer lead 30-14.
Dirkes had a big quarter for the Wildcats, including a three-point play the old fashioned way of his own late in the quarter that gave Custer a 41-19 lead.
The second half began much the way the first half ended and was especially big for Kyle Virtue, as he scored inside and outside to eventually stake the Wildcats to a 58-29 lead by the end of the third quarter.
It didn’t take long into the fourth quarter before the running clock began due to the Wildcats having a 30-point lead, and from there the game finished with Custer’s junior varsity players competing.
Kyle Virtue poured in 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the win, while Dirkes added 18 points while hitting on seven of his eight shot attempts.
The Wildcats finish their season with a 16-6 record, and see the end of the line for nine seniors, many of which have seen heavy minutes since their freshman year.
“They spent so much time together, traveling for basketball outside the season, you develop bonds with these kids,” Kelley said. “I hurt for them. I hurt, but more importantly, I hurt for them not to get experience a SoDak 16 or a state tournament. It was within our grasp. We didn’t get there.”
Despite the record, Kelley said ultimately the season was a disappointment, as both he and his team had high expectations for the talent and senior-laden team.
“I guarantee every one of us left that locker room (Friday night) disappointed,” he said. “We created our own scenario. Things were there for us to seize momentum during the season. Losing to Spearfish, losing to Hill City—you take those two games away, we’re the number two seed going into the regions.”
Kelley also lamented the unrelenting adversity the team faced throughout the season. Roland Sedlacek never played after suffering a football injury, Lehman missed the first part of the season with injury, Lowe missed the Hill City game with injury and Jackson Wiles, who Kelley called the team’s “glue guy,” missed the latter part of the season with a broken wrist.
“In 30-some years of coaching, I haven’t seen so many injuries affect a team,” he said. “We tell our kids, with adversity...you’re going to face it throughout life. How you respond and recover from that determines your future.”
Next year’s team will look wildly different from this year’s, as the nine seniors bid farewell to the program. Only one Wildcat—Brady Virtue—with more than token varsity experience will return next year.
Kelley said there are young players in the program who have a chance to be strong players, but they will have to put in the work between now and next season.
“You have to find the time. It’s not just shooting. It’s time in the weight room,” he said. “We have some kids who are looking forward to the opportunity. Hopefully they step up and do what is needed to get ready.”
Custer    14    12    14    13    —53
RCC    23    16    18    19    —76
Custer—Ayden Petz 1-6 0-0 3, Cade Lehman 2-10 1-1 6, Rhett Lowe 2-5 3-3 8, Brady Virtue 3-4 1-2 7, Cody Dirkes 8-15 3-6 21, Kyle Virtue 3-8 2-4 8. Totals: 19-48 10-18 53.
Rapid City Christian—Mason McIntosh 0-1 0-0 0, Lars Kieffer 1-3 0-0 3, Judah Hoyt 1-1 0-0 2, Joaquin Petrik 2-2 0-0 6, Simon Kieffer 2-8 5-6 10, Aiden Roberts 1-2 0-0 3, Benson Kieffer 10-17 5-5 28, Wes Schlabach 3-5 0-0 6, Sully Kieffer 3-4 0-0 6, Jadon Moreno 0-1 0-0 0, Julius Frog 5-12 1-2 12. Totals: 28-56 11-13 76.
Three-point goals: Custer 5 (Dirkes 2, Petz, Lehman, Lowe), RCC 9 (B. Kieffer 3, Petrik 2, S. Kieffer, Roberts, Frog, L. Kieffer). Rebounding: Custer 28 (Dirkes 8), RCC 30 (Schlabach 9). Steals: Custer 5, RCC 10. Assists: Custer 11, RCC 12. Turnovers: Custer 18, RCC 10. Total fouls: Custer 16, RCC 19. Fouled out: none.
Custer    21    20    17    8    —66
LD    12    9    8    13    —42
Custer—Ayden Petz 0-2 0-0 0, Cade Lehman 1-7 0-0 2, Rhett Lowe 1-7 2-2 4, Brady Virtue 5-6 1-1 11, Curtis Sorenson 0-1 0-0 0, Cody Dirkes 7-8 4-6 18, Kyle Virtue 11-15 2-3 26, Kawika Johncour 0-1 0-0 0, Regan Sorenson 1-2 0-0 2, Zachary Cooper 0-0 0-0, Carter Boyster 1-1 0-0 3. 27-50 9-12 66.
Lead-Deadwood—Beau Wichterman 3-17 8-11 14, James Burke 0-2 0-0 0, Enzo Stone 0-1 0-0 0, Garrett Rantapaa 0-1 0-0, Ben Wichterman 0-1 2-2 2, Canon Rogers 3-9 3-4 10, Blake Janssen 1-7 0-0 2, Ethan Finn 4-13 2-2 12, Brady Rantapaa 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 12-54 15-21 42.
Three-point goals: Custer 3 (K. Virtue 2, Boyster), LD 3 (Finn 2, Rogers). Rebounding: Custer 38 (K. Virtue 12), LD 28. Steals: Custer 6, LD 6. Assists: Custer 14, LD 8. Turnovers: Custer 15, LD 10. Total fouls: Custer 16, LD 11. Fouled out: none.