1/2/18: @Foley

Pine City Pioneer, Jesse Logan

Jumping into full swing at the start of the new year was the Pine City Dragons boys basketball team. The squad had three games in their first four days back after the holiday break, including two on the road. The Dragons won twice, and lost a close one to a Class AAA opponent to end the week. Pine City has a 7-4 record overall with all four losses coming against teams from higher classes, and three losses by six or fewer points.

Pine City 87, Foley 60

This game was close throughout the first half as the Dragons relied heavily on the shooting of Nick Hansmann while several other players struggled to find early rhythm. Hansmann had six threes in the opening 18 minutes and finished with seven, one short of the school record. He finished as the leading scorer with 21. At one point the Dragons led 39-36, but would go on a 32-7 run to blow the game wide open.

“There were a lot of things not in our favor going into this game,” said Head Coach Kyle Allen. “A section game, on the road, right after break.  Although it was far from perfect, we did enough to win and found a way to grind it out.  I thought we had some great stretches in the game where we were able to impose our will some. Finding the ability to make those stretches longer and longer will be key moving forward.”

Allen praised the play of Jake Adams and Seth Logan in the game, saying they did a nice job defensively and on the boards. Clay Logan again shot with outstanding efficiency, going 7-8 from the floor and finished with 19 points. Jake Rademacher was the other Dragon in double digits with 13.

                                                        

Played in Foley on Tuesday, Jan. 2, this game would come just two days before a back-to-back for the Dragons as the team packed three games into four nights. Pine City would be back home on Thursday, Jan. 4 and earned another win.

Varsity: W (86-60)
JV: W (44-30)
C-Squad: L (50-75)