Basketball Game Preview: Spearfish Spartans vs. Douglas Patriots

Spartans

Points

02/13/25 vs Custer	52
02/11/25 @ Sturgis Brown	64
02/08/25 @ Mitchell	47
02/07/25 @ Huron	54
02/04/25 @ Lead-Deadwood	70
+ 11 more games

Spearfish and Douglas are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2018, but not for long. The Spearfish Spartans will host the Douglas Patriots at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday. Spearfish is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 56.7 points per game this season.

Spearfish is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of South Dakota's top teams: Custer, who was ranked 21st at the time (Spearfish was ranked 19th). Spearfish came out on top against Custer by a score of 52-45 on Thursday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Spartans.

Spearfish's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Cooper Gibbs led the charge by almost dropping a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds. Thanks to that strong game, Gibbs now owns an excellent 49.3% shooting accuracy. The team also got some help courtesy of Bennett Kortan, who posted eight points along with five assists and four steals.

Spearfish was working as a unit and finished the game with 14 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, Douglas lost to Mahpiya Luta on the road by a 76-57 margin on Saturday. The Patriots have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Douglas' defeat dropped their record down to 5-12. As for Spearfish, their win bumped their record up to 11-5.

Spearfish beat Douglas 54-42 in their previous matchup back in January of 2024. Will Spearfish repeat their success, or does Douglas have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.