by Head Coach Tad Heitkamp
Blue Dragons Take Down The Bulldogs
On January 30th, 2024, the Blue Dragons jumped on the bus and traveled east to take on the Baltic Bulldogs. In a game that was back and forth much of the night the visiting Blue Dragons were able to come out on top when the final buzzer sounded 33-29.
“I thought we did a nice job on the defensive side of the ball this evening,” stated Coach Tad Heitkamp. “We were able to limit them from a second chance scoring opportunities most of the evening…and anytime you can hold a team to 29 points you should come home with a victory. We still need to continue working on our offensive finishes, but as stated earlier we got out of Baltic with a win!!”
Treyton Decker was the game’s leading scorer as he connected for 15 points on the night.
Heitkamp mentioned that “Treyton had a solid night for us…he owned the middle of the paint, which is what we want him to do every night he steps on the court.”
Cole Jessen also played well as he knocked down 10 points of his own, while Carter Siemonsma and Collin Olson finished the night with 6 and 2 points.
The Blue Dragons Pick Up Two Wins Against The Cougars!!
On February 2nd, 2024, the Blue Dragons played host to the Cougars of McCook Central/Montrose. In the open game the C Team picked up their first win of the season as they defeat MCM 28-26. The young Blue Dragons jumped out to an early lead the first half as they went into the locker room up 19-12. “The kids did nice job the opening half executing our offensive sets, as we attacked the rim with confidence converting at a high percentage,” mentioned Coach Heitkamp. The second half the game got a little interesting for the home team as the visiting Cougars dented the nets for 10 points in the final stanza, while holding the Blue Dragons to just 2 points. “We went away from everything that we did well the first half and got sloppy with the basketball. We turned the ball over too many times and didn’t run our plays effectively” stated Heitkamp. “The upside…we were able to hold it together to pull out the victory, so hopefully we can learn from our mistakes moving forward.” Ethan McGregor had the hot hand for the Blue Dragons as he knocked down 8 points, while Riley Lafferty-Maack, Noah Schotzko, and Michael Hanisch each added 6 points of their own. Tyler Erickson rounded out the scoring with 2 points.
The JV Boys needed an extra 3 minutes of overtime basketball to pull out a victory against McCook Central/Montrose 34-32. This was a back and forth game all night as the Blue Dragons held a 7-5 lead after the opening quarter. Unfortunately, the visiting Cougars battled back the next 6 minutes to take a 11-12 lead into the half. “I was very pleased with our defensive effort the opening half.” Coach Heitkamp exclaimed, “Josh Gilbert did an excellent job holding their best player in check, which kept us in the game all evening.” The second half saw MCM extend their lead to 6 points (18-24) after the 3rd period. “We struggled for 3 quarters offensively,” stated Heitkamp “We were getting quality looks, but we were not finishing at the basket, turned over the ball, and gave them too many second chances scoring opportunities.” In the final 6 minutes Collin Olson took it upon himself to get the Blue Dragons back into the game as he scored 11 of his game high 15 points, which includes two free-throws to take the game into overtime. The Blue Dragons were still down 4 points with about a minute left in the game when Ethan McGregor banked home a 3 pointer to give the crowd something to cheer about. The Blue Dragons locked down the Cougars in overtime as they didn’t score, while the home team netted two free-throws to seal the victory. Cole Jessen had another solid night as he hit for 7 points, while Treyton Decker and Ethan McGregor finished the night with 4 points. Josh Gilbert added 2 more points respectively.
