South Dakota

Oscar Cluff's big day carries South Dakota State past Oral Roberts

Published

9 months ago

January 19, 2025

Oscar Cluff's big day carries South Dakota State past Oral Roberts

BROOKINGS — Saturday’s Summit League battle between South Dakota State and Oral Roberts pitted two of the conference’s best and most exciting players against one another, and Isaac McBride of ORU and the Jackrabbits’ Oscar Cluff offered signature performances.

But it was Cluff and SDSU that came away victorious, with the Jackrabbits controlling the action most of the day in an 84-70 win in front of a matinee crowd of 3,681 at First Bank & Trust Arena.

It was SDSU’s second straight win after two straight losses, and Cluff’s very big fingerprints were all over it.

The 6-foot-11 Aussie scored 21 points on 11 shots while grabbing a career-high 20 rebounds and dishing a team-high four assists, continuing to establish himself as one of the premier bigs in the country.

Oscar Cluff goes up for a dunk against Oral Roberts on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025 in Brookings.

Dave Bordewyk, SDNMA

“He gave us a great boost,” said freshman guard Owen Larson, who had 10 points and five rebounds. “Really brought the energy from the get-go, rebounded at a high level and when he does that it gets the rest of us going.”

The Jacks scored the first nine points of the game but ORU quickly fought back, using a 14-2 run to take a three-point lead which would be their biggest of the day. The teams mostly traded blows the rest of the first half before a strong finish allowed SDSU to take a 41-35 lead into the break. They quickly pushed the advantage into double digits early in the second, and ORU never got closer than eight after that.

Joe Sayler had 17 points for the Jacks (12-8, 3-2), while Matthew Mors and Kalen Garry had 11 apiece.

SDSU’s Matthew Mors goes up for a dunk on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025 against Oral Roberts in Brookings.

Meanwhile McBride was outstanding for the Golden Eagles (5-13, 1-4), scoring a game-high 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting, though Jacks coach Eric Henderson said his team defended him well enough.

“It was just a matter of time before he hit some shots,” Henderson said of the preseason conference player of the year. “I know he had 26 but I thought he earned all of ’em. He’s just a terrific player. He’s gonna get shots. You can’t take all of his stuff away. Our effort was pretty good.”

Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sports writer. He graduated from Washington High School where he played football, legion baseball and developed his lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls, and began a long career in amateur baseball and sports reporting. Email Matt at mzimmer@siouxfallslive.com.

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South Dakota

South Dakota’s state cheer & dance, cross country championships scheduled for this weekend

Published

20 hours ago

October 24, 2025

Press Room

South Dakota’s state cheer & dance, cross country championships scheduled for this weekend

This is a big weekend for South Dakota high school sports, with state championship events scheduled for competitive cheer and dance and cross country.

The 19th annual cheer and dance competition is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 24 (Class A) and Saturday, Oct. 25 (Class AA) in the Watertown Civic Arena.

The three-class state cross country meet is slated for Saturday, Oct. 25, at the Broadland Creek Golf Course in Huron.

Here’s some pertinent details from each of the state events.

Cheer & Dance

Where & When — Friday and Saturday in the Watertown Civic Arena.
Schedule — Class A competition will run from 5:15 p.m. to around 7:20 p.m. on Friday, with awards scheduled for approximately 8 p.m. Class AA competition opens at 11:15 a.m. Saturday and continues past 3 p.m. with awards to follow at about 3:30 p.m. (Dance teams can perform in two of three dance categories: hip hop, jazz and pom).
Teams & Defending Champions — Class A features 20 schools in cheer and six dance. Sioux Valley has won all 18 cheer titles in state history and Dakota Valley has won the past 15 dance titles. Class AA includes 19 schools in cheer and 18 in dance. Defending champion Harrisburg has won two of the past three cheer titles and Brandon Valley is the four-time defending champion in dance.

Judges — Cheer: Performance judges include Renee Cummings of Watertown (head judge), Christian Bennett of Pierre and Krista Inman of Rapid City and safety judges are Brandy Gangle of Lake City and Katrina Schnabel of Aberdeen. Dance: Performance judges are Tammy Griffith of Aberdeen (head judge), Dacia Starks of Pierre and Darcy Nagel of Rapid City along with safety officials Taylor Hageman of Watertown and Salena Reimer of Sioux Falls.
Awards — Grand champions will be crowned in cheer and dance with other awards related to the number of teams in each division.
Tickets — Tickets for adults are $15 and students $10 per day.
Northeastern South Dakota Squads — Area Class A competitive cheer squads include Deubrook Area, Elkton-Lake Benton, Faulkton Area, Iroquois-Lake Preston and Sioux Valley. There are no area Class A dance squads. Watertown and Aberdeen Central each will field cheer and dance squads in Class AA.

Cross Country

Where & When — Saturday at the Broadland Creek Golf Course in Huron.
Schedule — Races (all 5,000 meters) include Class A boys at noon, Class AA boys at 12:30 p.m., Class B boys at 1 p.m., Class A girls at 1:30 p.m., Class AA girls at 2 p.m. and Class B girls at 2:30 p.m. Awards will be held following the conclusion on the final race.
Returning Individual Champions — Returning individual race champions include Ella Boekelheide of Northwestern, Class B girls; Faith Wiese of Flandreau, Class A girls; and Brianna Reilly of Harrisburg, Class AA girls; Tate Grabow of Hill City, Class A boys and Cole Reilly of Sioux Falls Washington, Class A boys. There will be a new champion crowned in Class B boys.
Defending Team Champions — Kimball-White Lake (Class B girls), Sioux Falls Christian (Class A girls, 3-time), Harrisburg (Class AA girls), Philip (Class B boys, 3-time), Sioux Falls Christian (Class A boys) and Sioux Falls Lincoln (Class AA boys, 2-time).

Officials — Tim Casper of Lake Preston, meet referee; Bob DeBoer of Huron, assistant meet referee and starters Tina Baum and Steve Carron of Huron.
Awards — The top 25 indivdiuals and six teams in each division receive awards.
Tickets — Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students in grades 1-12.
Northeastern South Dakota Runners — The field includes 14 area runners in Class AA girls (Watertown and Aberdeen Central), 31 in Class A girls (including school eligible for team honors Milbank, Aberdeen Roncalli, Sioux Valley and Clark-Willow Lake), 35 in Class B girls (eligible teams Gettysburg, Herreid-Selby Area, Ipswich, Arlington, Northwestern and Deubrook Area), 14 in Class AA boys (Watertown and Aberdeen Central), 29in Class A boys (eligible teams Milbank, Deuel and Sisseton) and 35 in Class B boys (eligible teams North Central, Frederick Area, Herreid-Selby Area and Northwestern).

ESD Cheer & Dance

A number of the Class AA cheer and dance squads tuned up for state by competing in the ESD Championships on Oct. 16 at Brookings.

Harrisburg won the cheer division for the eighth-straight year with a score of 295.5, followed by Brookings (288.0), Watertown (275.5), Yankton (245.5), Tea Area and Mitchell (each 244.5), Huron and Pierre (each 213.5), Brandon Valley (192.5) and Aberdeen Central (188.5).

Brandon Valley won the dance division for a third-straight year with 40 points, followed by Harrisburg with 39, Yankton and Pierre each 37, Aberdeen Central 35, Watertown 33, Tea Area 32, Mitchell and Brookings each 29 and Huron 26.

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com

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South Dakota

Water main break causes traffic delays on South Dakota Avenue in DC

Published

2 days ago

October 23, 2025

Press Room

Water main break causes traffic delays on South Dakota Avenue in DC

WASHINGTON – A water main break in northeast D.C. is causing delays to the morning commute Thursday morning.

The break was reported in the 4700 block of South Dakota Avenue around 7 a.m.

South Dakota Avenue, between Crittenden Street and Sargent Road, is closed to traffic while emergency crews work to fix the damage.

Drivers are urged to seek alternative routes.

Delays along South Dakota Avenue in DC after water main break

The Source: Information in this article comes from the FOX 5 Traffic Team.

NewsWashington, D.C.Top StoriesTraffic

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South Dakota

The share of fatal crashes involving teen drivers is higher in South Dakota than most other states

Published

2 days ago

October 22, 2025

Press Room

The share of fatal crashes involving teen drivers is higher in South Dakota than most other states

The share of fatal crashes involving a teen driver is higher in South Dakota than in almost any other state.

The state has the ninth-highest percentage of deadly crashes involving a teen driver at 16.4%, according to a recent analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data by Bumper, a vehicle history report website.

The analysis found that, nationwide, the number of people who died in crashes involving teen drivers has increased by 25% since 2013. In 2023, a total of 5,588 people died in crashes involving a teen driver, including passengers, cyclists, pedestrians and other drivers.

It also determined that while teen drivers account for only 5.1% of all licensed drivers in the country, they represent 8.9% of drivers in fatal crashes.

South Dakota had a total of 146 traffic crash fatalities in 2024, up from 140 in 2023 and 137 in 2022, according to the state Department of Public Safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 39,345 people died in traffic crashes nationwide in 2024, about a 4% decrease from 2023.

Hoping to make pursuits less dangerous, South Dakota Highway Patrol turns to GPS launchers