by Coach Tad Heitkamp
On December 29th, 2021, the Blue Dragons traveled to Sioux Falls to participate in the annual Hoop City Classic.
The Blue Dragons were matched up against a very tough team from Lennox, which resulted in a 66-45 defeat at the hands of the Orioles.
The Blue Dragons played arguably some of their best basketball of the season the opening 6 minutes of the game, unfortunately they couldn’t keep that going for an entire 32 minutes.
“I was so pleased how the kids started the game,” stated Coach Tad Heitkamp. “We were playing hard nose defense, attacking the rim, and communicating on both ends of the court. The coaches emphasized all week that we have to come out and set the tone, which is exactly what we did. The area that we need to continue working on is dealing with adversity when things don’t go well, which leads to lack of trust and confidence in our ability as basketball players.”
Dylan Kindt (4 rebounds and 2 assists) led the Blue Dragons with 15 points, while Cooper Long (7 rebounds and 2 assists) and Rhett Kloth (6 rebounds) collected 10 and 8 points apiece. Cadyn Ockenga (3 rebounds) had a nice game dropping down 6 points, as Clay Lardy (5 rebounds) and Sam Schleuter (3 rebounds and 3 steals) rounded out the scoring with 4 and 2 points respectively.
The Blue Dragons once again hit the road as they travel north to take on the Castlewood Warriors in the Entringer Classic, which was held in Brookings, SD, on December 31st, 2021.
The Blue Dragons didn’t end 2021 on a positive note as Castlewood blasted the Blue Dragons 60-35 in the annual basketball event.
The Blue Dragons came out of the locker room ice cold, which led to 9 of 45 field goal shooting (1 of 17 from behind the 3-point line).
“We were getting some solid looks at the hoop, but unfortunately we struggled to find the bottom of the net this afternoon,” indicated Coach Heitkamp. “Right now we are struggling with confidence shooting the basketball. We are a good shooting team…now we just need to start believing that fact.”
Cooper Long and Rhett Kloth were the leading scorers for the Blue Dragons with 14 and 11 points. Sam Schleuter added 4 points of his own, while Dylan Kindt and Dylan Jessen dropped in 2 points apiece. Cadyn Ockenga and Clay Lardy finished the night with 1 point each.
