by Tad Heitkamp, coach
The Cossacks Take Down the Blue Dragons
On February 17th, 2022, the Blue Dragons hit the road and traveled north to battle Big East Conference co-leader, the Sioux Valley Cossacks. The Blue Dragons played a very solid opening half as the visiting team went into the locker room down 26-20.
“The kids came out and played really well the first 16 minutes, but unfortunately we were hit with a significant injury that kept starting guard, Dylan Kindt, off the court the second half,” stated Coach Heitkamp. “We lost our leader on the court, which we were not able to overcome the final two stanzas of the game. We couldn’t find any rhythm and Sioux Valley exploited that the rest of the night.”
The Cossacks came out the second half firing on all cylinders as they defeated the Blue Dragons 67-36.
Cooper Long and Sam Schleuter (4 rebounds) led the way with 14 and 11 points, while Rhett Kloth (13 rebounds and 3 blocks) knocked down 7 points of his own. Dylan Kindt and Clay Lardy finished the night with 2 points each.
The Quarriers Slip Past the Blue Dragons
The Blue Dragons hit the road again on February 21st, 2022, to battle the Dell Rapids Quarriers in the final game of the regular season. The Quarriers started the game shooting lights out as they knocked down seven 3-pointers in the opening 8 minutes, but the Blue Dragons never faltered and kept battling going into halftime only down 32-26.
“We didn’t do a very good job extending out or keeping track of their shooters the opening quarter, which gave them a little momentum going into the 2nd quarter,” stated Heitkamp. “We made a slight adjustment defensively the 2nd and continued to execute our offense, which got us back into the game.”
The second half the Blue Dragons kept things interesting as they got within 1-2 points on a couple of occasions, but were never able to knock down that key shot to get the lead as Dell Rapids defeated the Blue Dragons 65-55.
“The kids played with a lot of heart tonight, which is something we are going to build on going into the post season,” indicated Coach Heitkamp. “We explained to the kids…if they come out and play like that next week…nobody is going to want to step on the court with them.”
Rhett Kloth had a monster night for the Blue Dragons as he knocked down 18 points while grabbing 17 boards, and blocking 6 would-be Quarrier shots. Clay Lardy and Sam Schleuter (6 rebounds and 4 assists) had fantastic nights hitting for 11 points each, as Cooper Long (5 assists and 4 rebounds) connected for 8 points of his own. Cadyn Ockenga (4 rebounds) and Isaiah Gnadt rounded out the scoring with 4 and 3 points.
With the regular season finished, the team stood at a season score of 9-11.
They started post-season play on Tuesday, taking on Madison in the Dragon's Lair (results not available at press time). The winner of this game moves into the second round of the tournament and will be facing off with either West Central or Baltic on Friday.
Update 3/2/2022: Despite putting up a great game on the home court, the Blue Dragons fell short at the end of the first Region 3A game against the Madison Bulldogs, ending their season. More coverage will be found in next week's edition of the Gazette.
