Preview: Lakota Tech Tatanka vs. Pine Ridge Thorpes
The Lakota Tech Tatanka will be playing in front of their home fans against the Pine Ridge Thorpes at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Lakota Tech has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 586 points over their last eight contests.
Lakota Tech scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Saturday. They came out on top against Hill City by a score of 92-80. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Gilbert White Jr. was his usual excellent self, scoring 27 points along with seven steals and two blocks. Another player making a difference was Riley Casey, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and ten assists.
Meanwhile, Pine Ridge entered their tilt with Crow Creek with seven consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with eight. Pine Ridge walked away with a 65-53 win over Crow Creek on Saturday. Given Pine Ridge's advantage in MaxPreps' South Dakota basketball rankings (they are ranked ninth, while Crow Creek is ranked 107th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Kanye Hollow Horn, who dropped a double-double on 28 points and 16 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaylen Rouillard, who scored 20 points.
Lakota Tech is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a massive bump to their 6-6 record this season. As for Pine Ridge, their win was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 13-1.
Lakota Tech suffered a grim 80-60 defeat to Pine Ridge in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Pine Ridge's Marvin Richard lll, who dropped a double-double on 25 points and ten rebounds. Now that Lakota Tech knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
