Travis Kriens
KORN News Radio Sports Director
For the first time in six years, Mitchell will hit the road for a Class AA SoDAK 16 matchup.
The 12th-seeded Kernels travel to face No. 5 seed Watertown on Saturday night at 6 pm with a trip to the Class AA state tournament on the line.
Mitchell (8-11) enters the postseason looking to extend a remarkable run of success. The Kernels have reached the state tournament five consecutive seasons and have played in the state championship game three years in a row, winning the title in 2024 and finishing runner-up in both 2025 and 2023.
Standing in the way is one of the biggest surprises in Class AA this season.
Watertown (15-5) bounced back from missing the SoDAK 16 last year when the Arrows finished 6-14 and 17th out of 20 teams to become one of the league’s most dangerous offensive teams. The Arrows average 66 points per game, third-best in AA, and have topped 70 points five times this season. Their offensive potential was on full display in a 92-73 win over Sioux Falls Jefferson on Feb. 10.
Senior Carter Buisker leads Watertown with 17 points per game, while Jackson McClemans adds 14.5. Junior Jack Mack provides another scoring option at 12 points per game while also pulling down seven rebounds.
McClemans has committed to play baseball at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.
The Arrows also proved they can compete with the best teams in the class. They knocked off then-No. 2 Sioux Falls Roosevelt 71-68 at home on Feb. 13 and closed the regular season with competitive losses to top teams Huron (61-56) and Harrisburg (60-55).
Saturday’s matchup will also be a rematch of Mitchell’s season opener in December.
The Kernels led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter in that game before Watertown rallied. Buisker forced overtime with a late 3-pointer and then hit another early in the extra period as the Arrows escaped with a 59-55 victory.
Mitchell has leaned on a defense-first approach this season, averaging 52 points per game while allowing 53. The Kernels have scored more than 55 points in regulation just six times this season and are 1-3 in overtime games.
Senior Colton Smith leads Mitchell with 17.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, while junior Owen Raml averages 13.2 points. Collin Weier contributes 7.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest.
Smith had 18 points and 17 rebounds in the first meeting at Watertown, while Raml added a then career-high 22 points in his first ever varsity start.
The Kernels have had postseason success against Watertown in recent years, defeating the Arrows in the SoDAK 16 in both 2021 (66-40) and 2023 (62-44).
Saturday will also mark Mitchell’s first SoDAK 16 road game since March 7, 2020, when the Kernels fell 68-50 at Sioux Falls Roosevelt. The state tournament was later canceled that year due to COVID-19.
The winner of Saturday’s matchup advances to the Class AA Boys State Tournament at The Monument Ice Arena in Rapid City, March 19-21. The winner will face either No. 4 Harrisburg or No. 13 Yankton at 1:45 p.m. CST on Thursday, March 19 in the opening round.
If Mitchell hopes to keep its state tournament streak alive, it will likely need to slow down Watertown’s high-powered offense and finish what it started in the teams’ first meeting.
The pregame starts at 5:45 pm on KORN News Radio FM 101.3/AM 1490 and KORNRadio.com