With two Great River Conference games on the schedule this past week, the Dragons boys basketball team knew they had to be on their proverbial A-game. Pine City’s squad played two very good games and nearly came away with a pair of wins. In the end, the Dragons fell short in a pivotal contest against reigning conference champion Hinckley-Finlayson, and will now have to regroup and move on with a 12-5 record.
Pine City 80, East Central 54
The Eagles are a solid team. Right in the middle of the pack in the Great River, beating East Central was no easy task for the Dragons, despite the final score.
“East Central is much bigger and more athletic than we are,” said Dragons head coach Kyle Allen. “It was a great challenge for us and we were able to utilize their strengths as preparation for the stretch towards the end of the year and into playoffs. We definitely left the game with some things to work on. I wasn’t 100 percent satisfied with our effort at all times. Throughout the game, it felt like dragging a cart through mud. But the boys kept grinding, our bench came in and did their part, and we were able to get the win.”
Jake Rademacher had his best offensive game of the season, pacing the Dragons with 21 points while also grabbing six rebounds. Seth Logan had a double-double with 15 points and 12 boards. Konnor Jusczak had 14 points and Jake Adams had 12. The Dragons posted a whopping 54 rebounds in this game and really took care of business on the boards.
“When the stats came out, I went and found Seth and told him how proud I was,” said Allen. “Rebounding the ball is so important and Seth is really buying into that. Right behind him was his brother Clay. Clay did not have the game he wanted to have on the offensive end, but getting it done on the boards (nine) is so important to us. I would much rather have 10 rebounds out of a kid than 10 points.”
The Dragons defensive tandem of Jake Lunceford and Quentin Miklya held Eagles top-threat Gunnar Fogt to seven points in this home win, on Tuesday, Jan. 23.
Two nights later, the Dragons would come up just short in their biggest game of the season to date.
Varsity: W (80-54)
JV: W (72-41)
C-Squad: L (43-52)
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