ABERDEEN — The De Smet Bulldogs will play for their fourth straight Class “B” State boys’ basketball championship tonight, after outlasting the Castlewood Warriors 40-37 in a semifinal battle at the Barnett Center.

It was a defensive coach’s dream game, as both teams were forced to make every possession count. De Smet led 7-3 after a tight first quarter, but Castlewood rebounded and took a 19-17 lead to the half.

Castlewood scored the first five points of the second half, on a three pointer from Luke Baumberger and a deuce from Bryon Laue to take its largest lead of the game. De Smet fired back, however, as George Jensen got loose inside for a short jumper then after a steal by Trace VanRegenmorter, Tom Aughenbaugh came off a pick and drilled a three to cut the margin back to two points with five minutes to play in the period. A Jensen jumper on the next De Smet possession knotted the score at 24. Jensen’s bucket came after two misses by the Bulldogs, but De Smet managed offensive rebounds to keep the possession alive.

Aughenbaugh hit two free throws and after a nice move in the paint by Grant Wilkinson resulted in a layup, the Bulldogs led by four points, 28-24, as the third quarter ended.

Laue scored thirty seconds into the final period for Castlewood, but then with 5:09 to play, possibly the biggest swing in the game took place. Kadyn Fast hit the first of two free throws, but missed the second. Jensen got the rebound, but missed a short put back. Fast came up with that rebound, reset the offense and swung the ball to the right corner, where Jensen drained the three pointer, putting the Bulldogs up by six.

Castlwood cut the margin to four points, on a three from Baumberger with just under three minutes to play, but that was as good as it would get until a three at the buzzer by Jamison Keszler cut the final margin to three points.

Aughenbaugh led the Bulldogs, now 22-3, with 12 points, while Jensen added 11 and Fast chipped in 10. VanRegenmorter had nine rebounds and Wilkinson claimed eight as the pair tag-teamed Laue and held the Castlewood big man to a total of eight points.

Keszler led the Warriors with 14 points and Laue had 11 rebounds in the contest.

Castlewood, now 21-4, will face White River for third place in the tournament, while De Smet will face Howard for the title.

De Smet defeated Howard by 10 points in Howard in early January in the teams’ only meeting of the season.

Castlewood 3 19 24 37
De Smet 7 17 28 40

DE SMET (22-3): Tom Aughenbaugh 3 4-4 12; Trace VanRegenmorter 0 0-2 0; Kadyn Fast 3 4-8 10; Britt Carlson 2 0-0 5; George Jensen 5 0-0 11; Grant Wilkinson 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 8-14 40.

CASTLEWOOD (21-4): Lane Tvedt 1 1-4 3; Quincy Thu 1 0-0 3; Luke Baumberger 3 0-0 9; Jamison Keszler 6 1-4 14; Bryon Laue 4 0-0 8. Totals: 15 2-8 37.

FG: C - 15-44 34%; D - 14-40 35%. 3-pt FG: C - 5-21 (Baumberger 3, Thu, Keszler); D - 4-9 (Aughenbaugh 2. Carlson, Jensen). Rebounds: C - 28 (Laue 11); D - 32 (VanRegenmorter 9, Wilkinson 8). TO: C - 8; D - 10. Assists: C - 7 (Tvedt 3, Keszler 3); D - 7. Fouls: C - 16; D - 10.

Howard 48, White River 42
Fifth-seeded Howard clinched a spot in the title game with a 48-42 victory against top-seeded White River on Friday at the Class B State Tournament at the Barnett Center in Aberdeen.

The Tigers, who improved to 22-3, trailed 35-32 heading into the final quarter, but went on a 16-7 run during the final eight  minutes of play.

Carson Hinker had 11 points to lead four players in double figures for Howard. Taiden Hoyer, Luke Koepsell and Kolt Koepsell each had 10 points.

Kolt Koepsell snagged a team-high 15 rebounds to help the Tigers to a 35-21 advantage on the boards. Hoyer had four assists, while Hinker had a pair of steals.

Nicolas Marshall led White River which is now 22-3, with a game-high 20 points. Jordan Uhlir also reached double figures with 16 points.

Howard will face De Smet or Castlewood in the championship game at 7:45 p.m., today. White River will play De Smet or Castlewood for third place at 6 p.m., today.

Howard 5 19 32 48
White River 10 23 35 42

Howard (22-3): Colby Claussen 1 2-2 5; Taiden Hoyer 3 4-7 10; Luke Koepsell 3 4-4 10; Kolt Koepsell 3 4-5 10; Carson Hinker 5 0-0 11; Austin Severson 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 14-18 48.

White River (22-3): Nicolas Marshall 5 10-14 20; Mackenzie Wike 1 1-2 3; Ray Crow 0 3-4 3; Jordan Uhlir 8 0-1 16. Totals: 14 14-21 42.

FG: H 16-43 37.2%; WR 14-38 36.8%. 3-pt FG: H 2-10 (Claussen 1, Hinker 1); WR 0-6. Rebounds: H 35 (K. Koepsell 15); WR 21 (Uhlir 7). Turnovers: H 14; WR 9. Assists: H 10 (Hoyer 4); WR 6 (Wike 3). Steals: H 3; WR 5. Fouls: H 17; WR 21 (Crow, out).