by Cory Buchholz, coach
C Team Unable to keep up with the C-Hawks
The Blue Dragon boys’ C team hosted the Canton C-Hawks in their first home contest of the season, coming up short by the score of 37-50.
“Unfortunately, we were shorthanded against a well-rounded Canton team,” stated coach Cory Buchholz. “After being down 17-5 after the 1st quarter, we settled down and started to find our groove to cut it to within 5 at the half. I was really proud of the way we battled back in the first half and never gave up, even after a big deficit. We need to come out ready to play for all 4 quarters of the game like we did in the 2nd quarter of this game and we will win many games this year.”
Leading the way was Eli Reed with 11 and Cadyn Ockenga with 8 points apiece. Isaiah Gnadt had another good game with 7 points and Sam Schleuter dropped down 6 points. Rounding out the scoring was Dylan Jessen with 4 and Drew Peterson 2 points, respectively.
The C team will be in action, along with the girls’ C team, in Luverne on Monday January 13th with a tip-off at 5:30.
C-Hawks “soar” past Blue Dragon JV
The Blue Dragon JV couldn’t get over the hill while falling in a back and forth battle with Canton by the score of 35 – 46.
Coach Buchholz said, “Once again, we came out flat in the 1st and 3rd quarter. I felt that we outplayed Canton 20 of the 24 minutes of the game but coming out not ready to play really hurt us. We also left 10 points off of the board by going 5 of 15 from the charity stripe and this just simply can’t happen. These are things that we will fix and be ready from the first whistle to the last.”
Josef Zahn and Brady DeBates led the scoring attack with 9 and 7 points apiece. Cooper Long, Cadyn Ockenga, and Triston Rekstad each chipped in 5 points and Evan Bly added 4 points of his own.
Blue Dragon JV too much for the Hawks from Colman-Egan
The Blue Dragon JV (2-1) took control from the opening tip and didn’t look back winning by a score of 41-17.
“This was a game where we came out knowing that we were a better team right from the start. Everything was working well and we were flying around the court from start to finish. This is the team that we have been waiting for since the season started and it really showed by outscoring C-E 24-3 in the first half,” said Coach Buchholz. “We still need to clean up our free throws, but overall I was really proud of the effort from everyone from start to finish.”
Leading the way in only 3 quarters of work was Triston Rekstad with 10 points. Cadyn Ockenga had a strong game off of the bench with 8 points and Brady DeBates followed those with 6 of his own. Evan Bly dropped in 5, Josef Zahn 4, and Isaiah Gnadt 3 points. Rounding out the scoring was Dylan Jessen and Sam Schleuter each with 2 points and Eli Reed with 1.
The Blue Dragons traveled to Chester on January 3; scores were not available at press time. In future action, the Blue Dragons will take on the Trojans from West Central on January 16 at 6:00 in the Dragon’s Lair in Garretson.
Blue Dragon JV uses balanced attack to hold off Flyers
The Blue Dragon JV (3-1) was back on the road Friday, Jan. 3for a Big East Conference battle against the Chester Flyers, defeating them by a score of 34-30.
“This was a game where we just couldn’t put together a run to put away a scrappy team like Chester. We would go up by 4 points just to have the Flyers come back down and make a 3-pointer. We will need to start doing a better job at recognizing where the shooters are and closing out with a hand up to make the outside shot more difficult,” said Coach Cory Buchholz.
It was a well-rounded offensive attack by the Blue Dragons on the way to the win. Josef Zahn, Cooper Long, and Isaiah Gnadt led the scoring attack each with 6 points apiece. Brady DeBates and Cadyn Ockenga each chipped in 5. To round out the scoring was Triston Rekstad and Sam Schleuter with 4 and 2 points, respectively.
Next up the Blue Dragon JV will host the West Central Trojans on Thursday Jan. 16 while the Blue Dragon “C” team will be heading to Luverne, MN, on Monday Jan. 13 for a 5:30 tip-off against the Cardinals.
