LE ROY — The Dakotah Sporing era is off to a good start.
Crest High’s boys, under their first-year head coach, played brilliantly through the first half, endured some second-half foul trouble, then fended off a spirited Southern Coffey County comeback attempt down the stretch.
Crest’s 41-34 victory to open the 2021-22 season featured a bit of everything, Sporing noted.
“We got a little tired, but overall I’m very pleased.”
After trailing by double-digits for much of the first three quarters, the Titans pulled to within four on Mitchyl Walters’ driving bucket with 5 minutes left in the game, 29-25.
But Crest’s Stetson Setter returned the momentum back to the Lancers with a key 3-point play 30 seconds later. Keaton Davis followed with a 3-pointer, and suddenly Crest’s lead was back to double digits.
Southern Coffey County drew no closer than five points the rest of the way. The lead was at 10 when SCC’s Brayton Lind drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final margin.Crest threatened to make the game a whitewash from the start, courtesy of a withering defensive attack and the offensive wizardry of Ethan Prasko.
The Crest senior outscored the Titans 9-1 by himself in the first quarter as Crest zipped out to a 13-1 lead.
But a pair of quick fouls sent Prasko to the bench in the second period, and both teams’ offenses went cold.
Setter had the Lancers’ only bucket of the period, a 3-pointer, while Southern Coffey County’s A.J. DeAnda hit a tough jumper from the free throw line for SCC’s only bucket of the half midway through the second quarter.
Prasko returned to the lineup in the second half, and again found his groove offensively, scoring seven quick points, but again foul trouble emerged.
Prasko went to the bench with his fourth foul at the 3:21 mark of the third quarter.
This time, Southern Coffey County was able to take advantage of his absence.
Wade Gleue scored five points and Lind four in the quarter as the Titans pulled to within 25-17 by the end of the period.
Gleue hit a trey to trigger a 7-0 SCC run, capped by Walters’ basket to cut the deficit to four.
