by Tad Heitkamp, Coach
On February 27th, 2020, the Blue Dragons traveled to Dell Rapids for their final game of the regular season. The host team jumped out early and never looked back as they defeated the Blue Dragons 77 to 50.
“We came out very hesitant the opening half,” stated Coach Heitkamp. “We were almost playing like we were unsure of ourselves, which led to poor execution on the offensive side of the ball. The kids had great looks at the hoop, but we just didn’t convert tonight. At halftime we talked to the kids about getting better for tournament action, so go out and play with a little chip on your shoulder and see what happens?”
Though the Blue Dragons didn’t get into the win column, they came out the final 16 minutes and played solid basketball.
Heitkamp said, “The kids did what we knew they could do the second half. We were flying around making plays on both ends of the court, which stemmed from shooting with confidence, doing the little things right defensively, communicating, and just having fun! If we play like that in the opening round of tournament play…we will get another shot at Dells!!”
Trey Buckneberg (4 rebounds) had great night as he led all scorers with 17 points. Cooper Long followed that up with 6 points of his own, while Dylan Kindt (4 rebounds) and Brady DeBates collected 5 points each. Hayden Olofson (4 rebounds/4 assists) added 4 points, as Josef Zahn and Triston Rekstad (4 rebounds) dropped down 3 points apiece. Cole Skadsen and Sam Schleuter rounded out the scoring with 2 and 1 points respectively.
The Boys Basketball team played against West Central in the semi-finals on Tuesday, March 3. Results were unavailable at press time. The winner of that game advances to the Region 3A Semi-finals to play against Dell Rapids on Friday, March 6 at Augustana University.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, March 3, the team played Harrisburg at West Central to aim for the Semi-Finals. Final score was 42-56 in favor of Harrisburg. This ends the Boys' Basketball Season at 3-18.
