In a Region 7B boys basketball game Tuesday night, the White River Tigers absorbed a 48-30 loss at Kadoka Area. The loss ended the Tigers’ season of rebuilding with a 6-15 record, but it also officially ended one of the most historic runs of postseason basketball excellence that the state of South Dakota has ever seen. Up through last season, White River had qualified for the last 19 State B Boys Basketball Tournaments. The Barnett Center at Northern State University in Aberdeen was essentially “White River North” during the third weekend of March as a large contingent from a town of just over 500 people nestled in the south central part of the state made the 4-hour trek each year to the “Big B.”
The White River run of State Tournament berths began in 2006, their first year under the direction of head coach Eldon Marshall. At the time the Tigers were led by sophomore Louie Krogman, who by the end of his career would set the all-time scoring record for South Dakota high school basketball. In 2008 they defeated Langford to win the State B Championship, the first for White River since 1955, in what was Krogman’s final game of his senior season, in front of about 10,000 spectators in a standing-room-only arena. A one-point loss to Sully Buttes, with whom they had a great rivalry at the time, the following season left them in the runner-up spot, but then another championship, another runner-up finish, and two more back-to-back titles followed. Four championships in a six-year run of making the Finals each season from 2008-2013! That incredible run did come to an end, but White River basketball was always about retooling rather than rebuilding, and even though the championship game eluded them from then on, they still won 20 or more games every season but one (19-6 in 2020-21), and they still qualified for the State Tournament for 11 more consecutive seasons.
To put the run in perspective, the Mitchell Kernels under coaching legend Gary Munsen qualified for 19 straight Class A and AA State Tournaments from 1983-2001. But South Dakota basketball fans understand that with so many more teams in Class B than there are among the big school ranks, it is much more difficult for a team from a small school to make it to a State Tournament, let alone 19 in a row. Not only that, but the Tigers posted a solid 32-22 record in tournament play – a great record, considering all the great teams that also made the tournament during the span. And for those who might be wondering, White River’s overall record during those 19 years was 412-75, just under an 85 percent win-loss ratio. An amazing run for Coach Marshall, his assistants, and all the players and others in the community who made it all possible. The “Big B” will certainly have a different look and feel this season.
Story written by Brian Oakland
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