by Coach Cory Buchholz
C Team Basketball
The Blue Dragons C team (0-1) is full of youthful energy, but unfortunately that lack of court time and experience showed up in their season opener at the Tri-Valley Mustangs on Saturday, December 18.
The game, originally scheduled for December 10 was a casualty of the snow storm, but the boys only had a week to set foot on the court against their foe. The boys put up four points in their first quarter, all by freshman guard Cole Jessen, sinking a bucket and making two of three free throws. But that was all the scoring in the first quarter for the Blue Dragons. Tri-Valley put up four times as much with even distribution up and down their lineup.
The second quarter was a bit more productive as the Garretson ballers got help from their bench. Freshman Ian Beuttner, five points, and sophomore Treyton Chester, three points, triple the Blue Dragons’ output getting their score up to 12 by half. However, the Mustangs also scored eight during their second quarter play, doubling up the Blue Dragons by halftime.
That trend continued on through the second half as the Mustangs defended their home court by a score of 52-24.
Beuttner and Chester led the Blue Dragons in scoring with eight points apiece. Jessen put down six, and Josh Gilbert knocked in two.
The Garretson C Team hosts West Central on Monday, December 20.
JV Basketball
After coming off of a successful 2020-2021 campaign, the Blue Dragons junior varsity was looking to continue their winning ways this season. But with some competitive, physical opponents to start their season, Garretson has found it difficult to come out on the right side of the game.
The JV opened up their season at Chester on Saturday, December 11. After struggling to find the bottom of the net in the first three quarters of play, down 15-26, the Blue Dragons’ defense came to life, which sparked a fire in their offense.
Garretson would allow just two points in Chester’s fourth quarter production, giving their offense a chance to get back in the game. With aggressive play and even attacks by the starting five, the Blue Dragons were able to get back into the game by the final seconds.
Down by three with just a few seconds left, the Blue Dragons had a look at the game-tying three as the final buzzer sounded, but it rimmed out, giving the Chester Flyers the victory, 28-25.
Leading in scoring for Garretson was freshman Ian Beuttner with seven points. Juniors Clay Lardy and Dylan Jessen had five points each. Rounding out the offensive attack came from the sophomores on the team: Blaine Trower, four points; Treyton Chester, two points; and Tyler Edmundson, two points.
Just a few days later, Garretson hosted the Canton C-Hawks. The physical, but quick, play by the C-Hawks paired with an aggressive press flustered the Blue Dragons. Canton was close to doubling up the Blue Dragons almost the whole way through the game, leading 31-16 at half, and rounding out the game 54-28, spoiling the Blue Dragons’ home opener.
Beuttner continued his strong scoring output with 15 points. Lardy (4), Cole Jessen (3), D. Jessen (2), Trower (2), and Matthew Gilbert (2) finished the offensive presence for Garretson.
Making up the game from the snow storm two weeks ago, the Blue Dragons travelled to Tri-Valley to face the Mustangs. The slow start by Garretson made it difficult to truly get back into the game, despite the strong effort in the middle quarters.
The Blue Dragons were down 3-17 at the first. However, in the second six minutes of play Garretson found their stroke, draining 18 points in the quarter. They held the Mustangs to just 12, bringing the score to just a nine point difference at half, 20-29.
Despite continuing a better offensive output in the third quarter, the lid was on the basket in the fourth where the Blue Dragons just scored two to Tri-Valley’s 17. Final score was 65-35 in favor of the Mustangs.
Leading the scoring for the Blue Dragons was D. Jessen, Trower, and Beuttner with 10, 7, and 7 points, respectively. Chester put down six, Lardy four, and Edmundson one.
This loss drops the Garretson JV to 0-3 on the season.
