Titan boys defeat Sioux City North, fall to Western Christian

On Tuesday, Jan. 7 the Tea Area High School boys’ basketball team defeated Sioux City North, 60-55. The Titans jumped out to an early 18-9 lead and were able to hang on for the 60-55 victory. 

“We sure learned how hard it is to win on the road against teams of this caliber, but we never apologize for winning. We played a very strong first half, but struggled in the second half to get anything going offensively,” said Titan head coach Drew Weber. “We did a good job of getting stops down the stretch and Grif [Wiebenga] hit the big shot with about a minute left and Gavin [Shawd] hit two big free throws with ten seconds left to seal the deal. It wasn’t a pretty win, but something we can learn from and it counts the same in the record books!”

Three Titans were in double figures with Wiebenga leading the way with 17 points. Wiebenga recorded a double-double, pulling down 11 rebounds to go with his 17 points. He also had five assists and one steal. Jaxson Merrigan finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, two assist and one steal. Shawd scored 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had one assist. Rylan Norris provided eight points, one rebound and one assist. Marshall Smythe finished with six points, one rebound, four assists and one steal. 

Following their win over Sioux City North, the Titans faced off against a strong Western Christian team from Iowa at the Sanford Pentagon. 

Tea Area fell behind 35-18 at the half and despite outscoring Western Christian 14-7 in the fourth, the Titans fell 61-43. 

“Western Christian is one of the best teams in the area and they showed why in this game. Their length and athleticism caused us a lot of issues offensively. This was the first game all year that we turned the ball over and we learned that you cannot do that against a team of this ability,” said Weber. “We did some good things defensively at times, but we never could get anything going consistently offensively to keep the game within reach in the fourth quarter. We will play a lot of the top teams in South Dakota and Iowa in the second half of our schedule, so we will get plenty of opportunities to show that we belong with those teams.”

Against Western Christian, Wiebenga led the way with 17 points, nine rebounds, one assist and two steals. Mitch Grant finished with seven points, nine rebounds, and one assist. Norris provided nine points, one rebound, and one assist. Smythe finished with five points, six rebounds, and five assists. Shawd, Cole McKinney, Isaac Slowey and Trey Severin each contributed two points in the game. Kayden Williamson pulled down four rebounds and had one assist. 

The Titans were scheduled to travel to Pierre on Tuesday, Jan. 14 and will host Sioux Falls Roosevelt this Friday, Jan. 17 and play host to Aberdeen Central on Saturday, Jan. 18. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. against Roosevelt and 3 p.m. against Aberdeen Central.