by Cory Buchholz, coach
The Blue Dragon JV team lost a close contest to the Tanagers from Vermillion on Jan. 22nd by the score of 30-36.
“For some reason, we seem to struggle and get any sort of rhythm going in the first quarter of our games this year. This was another winnable game which, in the end, they just wanted the win more than us,” stated coach Buchholz. “We need to start doing the little things right and start to play as a team if we want to start to win these close games. The wins will come, we just have to trust each other.”
Leading the way was Sam Schleuter with 8 points followed by Rhett Kloth with 6. Clay Lardy contributed 5 points while Dylan Jessen, Caydn Ockenga, and Isiah Gnadt each had 4, 4, and 3 points respectively.
Next the JV team unfortunately had a “case of the Monday’s” when we traveled to Hartford to take on the Trojans from West Central on January 25.
“Sometimes there are good games that we can learn from and there are really bad games that we can learn from. This was a game of the bad variety. Having a game to which nothing goes right will hopefully be a learning and teaching moment when it counts the most, the future,” said Coach Buchholz.
Trying to get our offense going was Rhett Kloth with 5 points, Clay Lardy with 4 points, Dylan Jessen with 3 hard earned points, and Junior Olson with a fourth quarter 2-point bucket.
To round out a busy weekend of basketball, the Dragons (5-6) in a Big East Conference JV contest, hosted the Fliers from Flandreau and came away with a very convincing 34-20 win on Tuesday January 26th. “We really bounced back in a positive way after a very sluggish loss the night before. To come out and run away with this game (30 to 5 after 3 quarters) says a lot about the heart of our young team. There are still many things that we need to clean up but overall, this was a great comeback win for us,” exclaimed Coach Buchholz.
Leading the charge was Isaiah Gnadt with 8 points followed closely by Sam Schleuter with 7 points of his own. Cadyn Ockenga and Clay Lardy each poured in 6 points apiece and Rhett Kloth added 5 points. Coming off the bench to add a 2-point bucket in the fourth quarter was Junior Olson.
Next up for the Blue Dragons we travel to Montrose on Feb. 5th for another Big East Conference JV contest with the Cougars of McCook Central/Montrose. Go Blue Dragons!!
