Potter Co. Battlers stop Tigers in Region 2B play

Ipswich closed out its boys' high school basketball season at 11-10 with a Region 2B 59-42 loss to Potter County at Gettysburg last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Battlers and Sully Buttes both qualified out of Region 2B for the SoDak 16 and its eight winners will comprise the boys' State B lineup slated for later this month in Aberdeen.

Ipswich stayed right with the Battlers, but was outscored 17-2 in the final quarter. "Yeah, we let that fourth quarter get away from us," said IHS coach Tyler Severson. Ipswich had indeed led 11-8 after a quarter and trailed 31-28 at intermission. The hosts then narrowly trailed Ipswich in the third quarter 12-11 to set up that potential decisive final battle. But the Battlers indeed lived up to their nickname down the stretch.

They were led by Dawson Simon with 18 points and Cole Nafziger added 17 points to also achieve double-figures. Six other Battlers scored.

For Ipswich, senior Daniel Braun scored 14 points and another senior Carson Simes tallied 12 points. Braun included four treys and Simes, two. Will Kadlec was next with eight points, followed by senior Jacob Nierman with five points, including a trey and yet another senior Ben Kulesa contributed three free throws.

The remaining Tiger seniors were Jaden Onken, Reece Moehlenbrink, Matt Miller and Jared Bjordal.

Ipswich shot 15-54 from the field with those seven treys and was 5-7 in free throws, but didn't get to the line often enough. The Battlers did exactly that, though, with a 17-21 free throw effort to go along with their floor-shooting evening that featured four treys.

Ipswich's own largest lead in the game was six points in the first half and the hosts led by as much as 20 in the final quarter. There were two ties and three lead changes in the game.

Each team collected 36 rebounds. Ipswich was led by Will Kadlec with seven and Braun with six. The Tigers committed 16 turnovers; the Battlers, 12. Ipswich came away with eight steals in a balanced effort.

Two more Lake Region Conference boys' teams, Leola/Frederick and Faulkton Area, in addition to Ipswich, were eliminated in Region 2B action. Meanwhile, Northwestern Area was the lone LRC boys' team to advance to the SoDak 16, thanks to a narrow 45-41 win over fellow LRC foe Warner in their Region 1B action.