Submitted by Cory Buchholz
Blue Dragon “C” team sputters against Tri-Valley...
The “C” team hosted TriValley for their first game of the year and could not get anything going, coming away with a loss by the score of 14-27, Friday December 11th.
This year will be a huge learning experience for much of the “C” team. “I think that quickness and nerves played a huge role in not being able to get any sort of offense going. There were moments of the game that we played well,” stated coach Cory Buchholz. “With only having six players for this game, I asked guys to step up and play more minutes than they are used to playing, and they all did in a big way. We, as a team, for the most part, will need to continue to work on the little things to get better each game. I can’t wait to see these young men keep growing and getting better as a team,” said Coach Buchholz. Clay Lardy and Dylan Jessen led the Blue Dragon attack each with 5 points in two quarters of work. Blaine Trower added and finished out the scoring with 4 points of his own.
Blue Dragon JV outworked by the Mustangs...
The Blue Dragon JV team dropped their opening contest, December 11th, by a score of 28-39. “Offensively we just couldn’t get anything going. We had some great looks that just did not fall, and we started to be hesitant while shooting the ball. If we get everyone to buy into our game plan and push the ball up the court from the start, we will be in every game we play this year,” stated Coach Cory Buchholz.
“We played a quarter and a half of really solid basketball. We will need to figure out how to put together a full 4 quarters each time we step on the court and great things will happen this year,” said Buchholz.
The Dragons were led in scoring by newcomer, freshman Rhett Kloth with 13, Isaiah Gnadt with 9, Sam Schleuter with 4, and Clay Lardy with 2 points of his own.
Blue Dragon JV uses balanced attack to ground the Flyers
The Blue Dragon JV were back at home on Saturday, December 12th for a Big East Conference battle against the Chester Flyers, defeating them by a score of 31-19.
“This was a game where our strong defensive effort just wore down a scrappy team like Chester. We still did not have a strong offensive effort, but our defense made up for the mistakes and misses on the offensive end of the court. If we can come out with the same defensive effort every night we play, we will have a great season.”
It was a well-rounded offensive attack by the Blue Dragons on the way to the win. Rhett Kloth led all scorers with 10 points followed by Isaiah Gnadt with 8 points of his own. Sam Schleuter added 5 points while Clay Lardy and Dylan Jessen each had 3 points, respectively. To round out the scoring was Junior Olson with 2 points off the bench.
C-Hawks escape with one-point win versus the Blue Dragon JV
In a back-and-forth battle that went down to the final buzzer, the Blue Dragon JV could not hold off the Canton C-Hawks on Tuesday, December 15th. The Dragons laid it all on the line in Canton but fell by the score of 41-42.
Coach Buchholz said, “We came out and attacked the basket in every quarter which led to a balanced scoring effort. I felt that we outplayed Canton 20 of the 24 minutes of the game but turnovers down the stretch really came into play. We also left 4 points off the board by going 3 of 7 from the charity stripe and missing some easy buckets in the paint. These are things that we will fix and be ready from the first whistle to the last.”
Rhett Kloth and Sam Schleuter led the scoring attack with 14 and 12 points apiece. Rhett Kloth also was the “man” in the middle coming in clutch with 7 blocks. Isaiah Gnadt followed closely in the scoring column with 9 points, while Blaine Trower and Clay Lardy each chipped in 4 and 2 points apiece.
Blue Dragon JV overwhelm the Dolphins from Deubrook
The Blue Dragon JV (2-2) traveled to White SD as a part of the revamped Entringer Classic and took control from the opening tip and did not look back, winning by a score of 46-28.
“This was a game where we didn’t know what to expect as we haven’t played Deubrook before, but we came out not fearing our opponent and took control from the opening tip. Everything was working well and we were flying around the court from start to finish. This is the team that we have been waiting for since the season started and it really showed by outscoring the Dolphins 28 to 18 in the second half,” said Coach Buchholz. “We still need to clean up our free throws (8 of 14), but overall, I was really proud of the effort from everyone from start to finish.”
Leading the way in the New Year’s Eve battle was Sam Schleuter with 15 points. Rhett Kloth had another strong game with 13 points and Clay Lardy followed those with 7 of his own. In his return from a shoulder injury, Cadyn Ockenga pitched in 4, Isaiah Gnadt 3, and Junior Olson and Dylan Jessen each with 2 points apiece.
The Blue Dragons next travel to Parker on Thursday January 7th to take on the Pheasants, as a part of a “re-vamped” Big East Conference tournament. Come on out if you can and cheer on the Blue Dragons in upcoming action!!
