There had been a lot of speculation around the Stanley County Buffaloes undefeated start to the season. Some said if the Buffs won the Jones County Invitational for the second straight year, that would be their longest unbeaten streak to start a season. Others said the boys team went 11-0 back in 20 02, and some thought it was the 2012 team to hold the longest unbeaten streak. The boys would lose in overtime of the championship game, so the speculation kind of simmered. However, one thing everyone could agree on was that this years Stanley County boys are an extremely talented bunch. With a 9-1 start to the year, they had won in just about every way you can imagine. Joey Fischer’s team has won by 30+ with running clocks, but have also won games at the buzzer with the last shot. They have won in high scoring, but also low-scoring affairs. Even with all of the impressive wins, many wanted to see how this team would stack up against the Cheyenne-Eagle Butte Braves who lit up the scoreboard for 94 points in their last game. Saturday night, a lot of questions were answered as Stanley County came out on top 67-52. Both teams came into Saturday night in the drivers seat to host a SoDak 16 game, but this game would carry a lot of weight behind that cause due to the amount of seeding points on the line. The Braves came into Fort Pierre ranked 8th in Class A while Stanley County trailed close behind at 11th. The top 8 teams will host the first round matchup. So, a win either way would be incredibly valuable. The game started slow, both teams starting to feel each other out, but an Eddie Duffy surge from outside the arc would push Stanley County out in front by a few possessions. The biggest play of the first half came in the final 2.1 seconds as Joey Fischer drew up a perfect give-and-go from Duffy to Paxton Deal who drained a mid-court three at the buzzer to stretch the Buffaloes lead out to 35-27. Galen Eberhard’s Braves team showed fight in the second half, falling behind by double-digits to start the third but some sharp-shooting from Damien Clown got Cheyenne-Eagle Butte back within a couple baskets. However, Fischer put an emphasis on his team’s slight size advantage and that started to pay off as 6’4″ Teegyn Breitag began to command the paint, scoring 10-points early in the second half. His second half performance was good enough to earn him Player of the Game honors. Stanley County’s offense and defense continued to suffocate the Braves as they slowly built their lead until it forced foul time from CEB. The Buffaloes would improve to 10-1 with the 15-point victory, the Braves falling to 8-2. Now both teams wait to see where they fall in the latest Class A rankings. ...read more read less