Titan boys improve to 5-1 with trio of wins

The Tea Area High School boys’ basketball team headed out west last week, facing off against Douglas on Jan. 2 and Sturgis on Jan. 3.

The Titans brought home two victories, defeating Douglas 62-40 and Sturgis, 62-40.

“It was terrific to get through the long road trip with two victories. The long layoff, combined with the overnight long trip, could have been a crutch, but I thought our boys really handled themselves well mentally and played with an appropriate level of energy. We got off slow in both games, but not because of effort level or execution, but instead because both Douglas and Sturgis are competitive teams that played well,” said Titan head coach Drew Weber. “Over the course of both games, we had stretches where we saw what our ceiling can be. It’s impossible to play your best basketball all game, every game, but if we can start being more consistent for a full 32 minutes, we will have a chance to do great things. “

Against Douglas, the Titans trailed early but used a 21-12 second quarter advantage and a 20-4 third quarter advantage to pull away. Gavin Shawd led the Titans with 21 points. He grabbed seven rebounds, had two assists, and one steal. Grifin Wiebenga finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, a team-high seven assists, and a team-high five steals. Mitch Grant went five of six from the field to finish with 12 points. He also had seven rebounds and one assist. 

Lane Sieber finished with five points, four rebounds, one assist, and one steal. Caden Bohnenberger also had five points, along with two steals. Kayden Williamson had two points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal. Arden McGraw had one point, two rebounds, and one steal. 

Against Sturgis, the Titans led by one after the opening quarter but outscored Sturgis 17-8 in the second and 15-8 in the fourth to get the win.

Both Shawd and Wiebenga scored 23 points on the night. Shawd hit three of five three-pointers and had two rebounds, one assist, and three steals. Wiebenga grabbed three rebounds and had a team-high seven assists. 

Grant finished the night with nine points, one rebound, and three assists. Both Sieber and Daschle Lowery had three points each. Sieber also had four rebounds and one steal and Lowery had one rebound and one steal. Williamson had one point, four rebounds, and one steal. 

The Titans hosted Sioux City North on Tuesday, Jan. 6, getting another victory to improve to 5-1 on the season. 

Tea Area trailed early but used a 16-5 third quarter advantage to go on to get the 57-37 victory. 

“We didn’t play our most efficient basketball in this one, but were still able to get a nice win at home. The boys grinded defensively through some slow offensive stretches and that’s the sign of a good team,” said Weber. “The competition is certainly going to get a little tougher in the coming weeks, but I like how our team finds different ways to win. We have a lot of tough hombres on the roster.”

For the Titans, Shawd led the way with 24 points, six rebounds, three assists and a team-high four steals. Wiebenga added 19 points, grabbed six rebounds, had four assists and two steals. Grant finished with ten points, six rebounds, two assists and one steal. Both Kayden Williamson and Lane Sieber had two points in the game. Williamson led the team in rebounds with eight and Sieber provided three steals. 

The Titans will face off against Sioux Center on Saturday, Jan. 10 at the Sioux Falls Pentagon with a 4 p.m. tip-off time. They play host to Pierre on Tuesday, Jan. 13 and will be at Sioux Falls Roosevelt on Friday, Jan. 16.