by Tad Heitkamp, coach
The Blue Dragons played host to the 9 and 1 Flandreau Fliers on January 26th, 2021, and sent the visiting team home with their second loss of the season 74-66 in overtime. The hometown Blue Dragons played some of their best basketball of the season the first 24 minutes of the game, but Flandreau made a big push in the final stanza to tie the game at 61 apiece.
Fortunately, the Blue Dragons took control of the game in overtime scoring 13 points, while only giving up 5 points for the teams 4th win of the season.
“The kids played great this evening, but we just didn’t put the game away in the final quarter,” stated Heitkamp. “We got to a point in the final 8 minutes that we were playing not to lose…instead of going out and just winning the game. Even though it took us an extra 4 minutes to come away with a big win, the guys earned this victory.”
Cooper Long came out and scorched the nets for 27 points, while Dylan Kindt (5 rebounds) and Josef Zahn (9 rebounds and 4 assists) connected for 14 and 12 points each. Jake Schroeder added 9 points to the mix, as Sam Schleuter dropped down 6 points of his own. Rhett Kloth and Evan Bly (6 rebounds) rounded out the scoring with 4 and 2 points respectively.
Heitkamp also noted, “The team shot 16 for 20 (80%) from the charity strip, which includes 8 of 8 in overtime. This is something we work on in almost every practice…and it sure paid off tonight!”
GHS faced Dell Rapids St. Mary on Monday, Feb. 1. Though they played a competitive game, especially in the first quarter, DRSM pulled ahead by fifteen points in the second quarter and the guys could not catch them.
They faced Baltic on Tuesday, Feb. 2, and pulled out a win by 13 points, with a final score of 53-40. More details will be found in next week's Gazette!
