by Tad Heitkamp
The Blue Dragons traveled to Parker on January 7th, 2021, to participate in the annual Big East Conference Tournament. In the opening round the Blue Dragons battled the #4 seeded Parker Pheasants.
The Blue Dragons once again came out playing very solid basketball the opening quarter leading 1611. The visiting team struggled offensively the second stanza, but still took a 22-21 lead into halftime.
“I was very pleased with our defensive pressure the 1st half,” said Heitkamp. “We were rebounding well and not giving them a lot of second chance opportunities. The thing we needed to work on offensively is not settling for the long range shots, especially if those shots are not falling. We need to be confident attacking the rim, which puts pressure on the opposing team to play defense for an entire 32 minutes.”
Unfortunately the Blue Dragons didn’t keep that defensive pressure up as Parker scorched the Blue Dragons for 23 points in the 3rd, while only giving up 14 points.
“We lacked motivation and heart for about 3 1⁄2 minutes the 3rd quarter, which put us behind the 8-ball!” Heitkamp exclaimed. “The kids need to understand that they can compete with anyone on any given night, but we just can’t give up defensively, which ultimately led to the loss!”
The Blue Dragons fought back into the game late in the 4th quarter, but fell just short 57-53. Cooper Long was the leading scorer for the Blue Dragons as he netted 20 points. Sam Schleuter and Dylan Kindt dented the nets for 12 and 10 points, while Jake Schroeder, Rave Uhlich, and Evan Bly rounded out the scoring with 6, 3, and 2 points.
Coach Heitkamp noted, “Sammy Schleuter almost single handedly got us a victory tonight. He created chaos on the defensive side of the ball leading to some easy transition buckets and hit some clutch shots. He raised our level of play ten-fold...we just needed another 60 seconds to come out on top!”
The Blue Dragons played host to the Beresford Watchdogs the following night, which was a back and forth battle until the 4th quarter. The Watchdogs scored 21 points in the 4th, while only allowing 13 points giving them a 59-49 victory.
“The kids played pretty well for the first 3 quarters, but we once again had a letdown defensively the final 8 minutes,” exclaimed Heitkamp. “I know the coaching staff must sound like a broken record at times, but we can’t afford to have these lulls defensively. We have great kids on this team...we just need to be tougher mentally and physically when a little adversity hits.”
Cooper Long once again had the hot hand for the Blue Dragons as he lit up the scoreboard for 18 points. Dylan Kindt followed with 12 points of his own, while Josef Zahn and Rhett Kloth hit for 6 and 5 points. Evan Bly knocked down 4 points as Jake Schroeder and Sam Schleuter collected 2 points apiece.
The Blue Dragons got on the bus and traveled to Baltic to take on the rival Bulldogs on January 9th, 2021 for the final round of the Big East Conference Tournament. The Blue Dragons played a pretty solid game, but just came up short in the end 5350.
“I was very pleased with the effort the kids displayed this evening. They never gave up and that is all we can ask as a coaching staff,” stated Heitkamp. “The kids played solid team defense and executing our offensive sets leading to quality buckets.”
The Blue Dragons had a great look at the bucket with 3 seconds on the clock, but the shot rimmed out sealing the victory for Baltic.
“This is the second time this season we had a great look at the end to pick up a victory, but the shots just haven’t dropped,” mentioned Heitkamp. “We reminded the kids
after the game that this is a marathon season not a sprint, so we just need to keep getting better each week to prepare ourselves for a playoff run.”
Cooper Long had a solid night collecting 14 points, while Sam Schleuter and Evan Bly knocked down 8 and 7 points. Dylan Kindt and Josef Zahn followed that up with 6 and 5 points of their own, as Rave Uhlich added another 3 points. Jake Schroeder, Rhett Kloth, Triston Rekstad, and Cadyn Ockenga rounded out the scoring with 2, 2, 2, and 1 point respectively.
