by Tad Heitkamp, head coach
Blue Dragons Slip Past the Cougars
The Blue Dragons jumped back on the road and traveled to Montrose to battle McCook Central/Montrose in Big East Conference action on February 5th, 2021. The Blue Dragons didn’t play their best basketball, but did enough to get out of town with a 47-46 victory.
“We once again came out and played pretty well the opening quarter,” mentioned Coach Heitkamp. “The frustrating part is that everything we did well the 1st quarter was just the opposite the 2nd stanza. We were not contesting shots, we gave up baseline drives defensively, and we gave MCM too many second chance opportunities that put us down 20-27 at the break.”
The Blue Dragons came out of the locker room at halftime with a different look as they lit up the scoreboard for 21 points, while holding the Cougars to 10 points making the score 41-37 going into the final 8 minutes.
“Wow...the kids played very well coming out of the break,” stated Heitkamp. “We were executing our sets, pushing tempo, and playing solid/hardnose defense flipping the game in our favor. We once again reverted back to some bad habits the final quarter, but we did enough to come out on top for our 6th win of the season.”
Cooper Long had a monster night as he was the game’s high scorer with 24 points. Dylan Kindt (6 rebounds) and Josef Zahn (12 rebounds) had a solid night with 12 and 9 points, while Triston Rekstad finished with 2 points respectively.
Blue Dragons Playing Solid Basketball
On February 1st, 2021, the Blue Dragons played host to Dell Rapids St. Mary’s. The Blue Dragons started off on the right foot as they dueled the Cardinal’s to a 13-13 tie after the first quarter. The home team had a setback during the second quarter as they were outscored 18-5.
“We came out very flat the second quarter,” mentioned Heitkamp. “We weren’t executing our offensive sets and the lack of communication on defense hurt us. We just can’t afford to have those lapses if we want to challenge the top teams in our area.”
The Blue Dragons didn’t quit battling, but unfortunately fell short 64-51 when the final whistle blew.
“The kids did a nice job the second half, but we couldn’t overcome the deficit we created in the second quarter,” stated Coach Heitkamp. “We had a plan to contain Libis (Connor), who is St. Mary’s all-time leading scorer (13 points), but gave them way too many second chance opportunities on their offensive side of the court, which sealed our fate.”
Josef Zahn (7 rebounds) and Cooper Long (4 rebounds) led the way offensively for the Blue Dragons scoring 15 and 14 points. Dylan Kindt (3 assists and 4 rebounds) collected 11 points, while Rave Uhlich (4 rebounds) knocked down 5 points of his own. Jake Schroeder (4 assists and 4 rebounds) and Rhett Kloth finished the night with 4 and 2 points respectively.
The Blue Dragons were right back on the court the following night taking on arch rival...the Baltic Bulldogs. The Blue Dragons came out of the locker room playing inspired basketball as they handed the Bulldogs a 53-40 defeat.
“The kids played pretty solid basketball all night long. We had some mental setbacks from time to time, but that never led to multiple minutes of poor basketball,” stated Heitkamp. “We also did a great job controlling the boards, which didn’t give Baltic multiple scoring opportunities.”
Coach Heitkamp also noted, “The defensive pressure was excellent and anytime a team can hold their opponent to 40 points or less is a recipe to success.” Josef Zahn (9 rebounds) had a big night for the Blue Dragons as he netted a game high 18 points, which included a 3⁄4 court shot to end the 3rd quarter. Dylan Kindt (4 assists) and Cooper Long had a solid night scoring 11 and 9 points each, while Sam Schleuter added 5 points. Evan Bly (8 rebounds) and Jake Schroeder collected 3 points apiece, as Rave Uhlich and Triston Rekstad (4 rebounds) knocked down 2 points each.
