by Cory Buchholz, Coach
The Blue Dragon boys’ basketball C team traveled to Baltic on January 7 to face off in a C team triangular against Dell Rapids St. Mary’s and Baltic. Garretson came away with two back-to-back wins.
“We knew that St. Mary’s had just played a full game right before us and would be coming out of the gates ready to play. Pushing the tempo was the key to jumping out to an early lead for us. Our pressure in the back court led to some easy transition points and some great kick out shots from our wings,” said Coach Cory Buchholz.
The young Blue Dragons were able to secure victory over Dell Rapid’s St. Mary’s by a score of 44-30. Cadyn Ockenga led the scoring attack with multiple transition buckets while netting 18 points. The hot shooting Isaiah Gnadt scorched the nets, connecting for 17 points (4 for 5 on 3-point attempts). Sam Schleuter and Drew Pederson rounded out the scoring going for 6 and 3 points each.
Following the Blue Dragons victory over the Cardinals, Garretson took on a rested Baltic Bulldog team and shut them down with a score of 42-29.
“Once again we came out and hit some big shots early. We kept pressure on the ball that led to some easy turnovers and transition points. We stayed in our 2-3 defense and, in a way, it kept us from some rebounds because we were over helping too much on the defensive side of the ball. Though that is a good problem to have, we need to see the weak side of the floor better for boxing out opportunities,” said Coach Buchholz.
While Garretson was hot during in-game play, the Blue Dragons struggled from the charity stripe. “Achilles heel = free throws. We say it every day in practice that we leave points off of the scoreboard by missing free throws. This game alone we were 4/14 from the charity stripe. Although we didn’t need those points this game, it can and will come back to haunt us,” stated Coach Buchholz.
Gnadt had another huge game, knocking down four 3-pointers en route to his best scoring game of the year of 20 points. Buchholz noted, “When Isaiah is on from beyond the arc, it is something fun to watch.”
Dylan Jessen was a man on a mission throughout the whole game as he netted 11 points and came away with rebound after rebound. Sam Schleuter connected for 5 points while Matthew Gilbert, Drew Pederson, and Eli Reed each put up 2 points.
