Editor's note: The Friday matchup between Huron and Spearfish went beyond print time, so we printed the first half of the game in Saturday's paper. This is the second half of that game.

SPEARFISH – The Huron Tigers followed the lead of CJ Gainey and Blake Ellwein to push a 26-23 halftime lead out to a 59-50 victory over the Spearfish Spartans Friday in Spearfish.

That doesn’t mean that Huron coach Tim Buddenhagen was overjoyed with his squad’s performance.

“We’ve got a lot of things to clean up,” Buddenhagen observed. “We had too many empty possessions on offense and didn’t find the matchups.”

After a big first half where he led all scorers with 15 points, Dylon Doren got the first points of the second half with a steal and a layup to bring Spearfish within one at 26-25.

Blake Ellwein got a leaner on the Tigers’ first possession, then found CJ Gainey cutting to the hoop with a laser pass to make it 30-25 Huron.

Kamren Davis hit one of two free throws and Ellwein answered with one of two free shots himself. Davis then got fouled on the drive and hit a pair of free throws to make it 31-28.

That’s when Gainey took off.

He drove from the top of the lane for a layup, and after Brody Janvrin took the ball on a rebound and scored a layup for Spearfish, Gainey was fouled on a three-point attempt and sank all three charity shots, pushing the lead to 36-30.

Ellwein hit a quick three, Davis got behind the Huron press for a layup, and Ellwein got a pair of free throws to make it 41-32. Gainey then drove across the lane and hit a running jumper to push the lead to double digits at 43-32.

Bennett Kortan got on the board for the Spartans with a short bucket and a foul, sinking the foul shot, to which Gainey answered with a three.

Seth Hamilton was fouled and hit both free throws, but with time running down in the third, Gainey hit a long three for his 15th point of the quarter, sending the Tigers to the final period with a 49-37 lead.

Hamilton finally wiggled free from the Tigers defense and hit a corner three to make it 49-40, but Ellwein answered with a scoop shot underneath.

The Spartans went on a 8-0 run from that point behind a bucket from Doren, a three from Janvrin, a steal and layup for Davis, and one of two technical free throws when Colton McNeil was assessed the technical foul for something he said after he felt he was fouled on a drive to the hoop, cutting the Huron lead to 51-48.

Kolton Ogle found Ellwein for the third shot in the Huron possession, and Blake connected from long range to stop the run. He then was fouled on a drive to the hoop and hit both free throws, making the lead 56-48.

Doren grabbed a rebound and took it coast-to-coast with just under three minutes attempting to spark his team, but the Tigers defense was relentless, and though they missed on multiple possessions to score, when Anderson Porisch banked in a three with less than two minutes left, the score was 59-50, and that’s where it would finish.

The Tigers move to 8-6 behind 27 points from Ellwein and 17 from Gainey. Porisch nabbed seven rebounds to lead Huron.

Buddenhagen noted that Gainey’s been shooting well in practice of late.

“CJ’s been hitting shots a lot in practice,” Buddenhagen chuckled. “When he gets in a groove, he can hit consecutive shots.”

Doren put up big numbers for Spearfish, now 6-6, with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

Spearfish won the JV game 58-42.

Huron 14 26 49 59
Spearfish 12 23 37 50

Huron (8-6): Colton McNeil 1 2-2 4, Kolton Ogle 1 1-2 3, CJ Gainey 6 3-3 17, Blake Ellwein 9 5-6 27, Anderson Porisch 2 0-0 5, Carsen Evans 1 0-0 3. Totals: 20 11-13 59.

Spearfish (6-6): Bennett Kortan 1 1-1 3, Dylon Doren 8 4-8 21, Kamren Davis 3 3-6 9, Seth Hamilton 2 3-4 8, Carter Gibbs 1 0-0 3, Brody Janvrin 2 1-2 6. Totals: 17 12-21 50.