by Tad Heitkamp, JV Head Coach
On December 12th, 2023, the JV Blue Dragons played host to the Canton C-Hawks, which turned out to be an exciting game for the fans in the stands. Both teams came out and battled for 24 minutes, but when the dust settled the scoreboard showed the Blue Dragons victorious 48 to 44!!
“We once again came out executing our offense and finished well at the rim,” stated Coach Heitkamp. “We didn’t give them a lot of second chance scoring opportunities, which ultimately gave us a victory at the end of the night.”
The Blue Dragons could have put this game away mid-way through the 4th period, but struggles at the charity stripe made the outcome a little closer than it should have been.
“We didn’t shoot well from the free-throw line going 3 for 11 on the night,” mentioned Heitkamp. “We need to take advantage of those situation, which was just a lack of focus and follow through on our free-throws. This will be something we will continue to work on throughout the season.”
Collin Olson led the way with 15 points for the Blue Dragons, as Treyton Decker followed closely with 12 points of his own. Josh Gilbert had a nice night with 7 points, while Carter Siemonsma and Cole Jessen netted 6 points each. Ethan McGregor rounded out the scoring with 2 points on the night.
Mustangs Take Two from the Blue Dragons
The C and JV Teams traveled to Tri Valley on December 15th, 2023, to take on the Mustangs. In the opening C game, the Mustangs came out firing on all cylinders as they jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they defeated the Blue Dragons 19 to 46.
“This team physically manhandled us all night long, which prevented us getting into any sort of rhythm on the offensive side of the ball,” stated Head Coach Tad Heitkamp. “I was proud that we never gave up and kept fighting, but Tri Valley was just a much better team than us on this night.”
Isaiah Coburn led the way with 6 points, while Noah Schotzko added 4 points of his own. Tyler Erickson and Ethan McGregor netted 3 points each, as Joey Tonsay and Riley Lafferty-Maack rounded out the scoring with 2 and 1 point respectively.
Unfortunately, things didn’t get much better for the Blue Dragons in the JV game as the home town Mustangs dismantled the Blue Dragons 23-46. It was much of the same as Tri Valley took an early lead in the first stanza and cruised to an easy win when the final horn sounded.
“We knew going into this game that the Mustangs were going to be physical, which we were not able to match,” mentioned Coach Heitkamp. “I truly don’t believe that Tri Valley is a better basketball team than us, but when they physically force us out of our offensive sets…it’s tough to get things going on that end of the court.”
Carter Siemonsma had a nice night as he led the Blue Dragons with 9 points, while Cole Jessen connected for 5 points. Collin Olson, Treyton Decker, and Josh Gilbert all finished the night with 3 points.
