Titans take on nation’s best

On Saturday, Dec. 29 the Tea Area High School boys basketball team were given the opportunity to play the top team in the nation, La Lumiere, IN in the Hoop City Classic at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls.

“Anytime you get an opportunity to play the #1 team in the nation, it is a great honor,” said Titan head coach Chris Fechner. “We took the game on Thursday night due to weather in Mitchell and really didn’t have much prep for them.”

The first quarter put the Titans behind 20-8 but Tea Area picked things up with the following three quarters, outscoring La Lumiere 24-11 in the fourth; however, the early lead gave La Lumiere the 78-64 win.

“We certainly knew it would be a tough challenge and we wanted to see how we stacked up against them,” said Fechner. “I was proud of the guys for playing hard for the entire game. We got down early but never gave up. We cut a 30 point deficit down to 14 and hung with them. We had a great crowd there and we can’t thank the fans enough for showing up to support us.”