Pierz 3 on 3

Pine City had members on  three 3 on 3 teams at Peirz this last weekend.  They competed in the 8th, 9th, and 10th grade divisions.

4-0 in Pool Play

2nd Place Finish

3rd Place Finish

Cotter Summer Basketball Tournaments

Double OT Basketball Tourneys

Up North Basketball Camp 2015

Richard Pitino Basketball Camps

Letter from State Representative

Shootout In The Dells

2014-15 Season Recap

The Pine City Boys Basketball Varsity Team ended the year with an 20-8 (14-2 Conference) overall record.  They finished the year 2nd in the conference and 4th in section, earning a home playoff game that they won sending them to the quarter-finals where their season ended again the #1 seed Barnum.

The non-conference schedule was much more difficult than it was the past few years, but that did not stop The Dragons from increasing their win total for the fourth straight year.  The program as a whole had all 5 teams with a winning record (JV: 17-7, C: 12-6, 8th: 7-5, 7th: 10-2).  Along with this, the participation numbers continue to be high with 69 total student participants this year grades 7-12.  There were also 14 7th/8th grade students who participated in the optional C-Squad season before the junior high season began.  This is a huge positive to our great staff (Jason Rademacher, Jeff Hussong, Billy Christianson, David Jackson, Tyler Johnson, Trent Hippen, Michael O’Donnell) that we had this year.

A lot of the continued success continues to equate back to the increase in summer/offseason participation.  Most of our athletes are 3 sport athletes at Pine City and continue to develop their overall athleticism.  47 basketball players participated in open gym last summer for a total of 1,357 hours.  During the open gym, the Unified Athletic Program is offered where students 7-12 work on their overall athleticism.  This program is also offered year round.

At the youth level, we hosted youth camps at different times throughout the year from grades K-6 with over 100 participants.  These camps were worked by our high school athletes who volunteer their time back to the program.  We also had teams in the Great Northwest Basketball League participating in grades 3-7.  The youth are also invited to be a “Junior Dragon” during varsity basketball games.

At the varsity level, we had some great individual and team accomplishments.  We were fortunate enough to have 3 all-conference players (Noah Adams, Kole Jusczak, and Mitchell Hansmann-Honorable Mention).  Our staff was nominated for Coach of the Year of the conference for the 2nd straight year.  During the year, Junior Noah Adams also scored his 1,000 career varsity point; placing him as the 10th basketball player (boy or girl) to achieve this and Kole Jusczak was named to the All-Tournament Team at our Holiday Tournament in Cloquet, MN over the break.  The varsity team increased their points per game this year by 16 points per game while only allowing their points against per game to increase by 1 point per game from the previous year.  Stat leaders for the varsity were:

Points: Kole Jusczak (492)

Rebounds: Kole Jusczak (242)

Assists: Noah Adams (176)

Steals: Mitchell Hansmann and Noah Adams (77)

Blocks: James Pixley (17)

Charges Taken: Connor Clark (14)

Made 3’s: Easton Foss (62)

Every year, our varsity players vote on awards that solely decide who receives which award.  We recently held our awards banquet with the following individuals earning the following awards:

Most Valuable Player: Noah Adams

Offensive Player of the Year: Kole Jusczak

Defensive Player of the Year: Easton Foss

Dragon Award: Noah Adams

Most Improved Player: Nathan Kleppe and Easton Foss

Teammate Award: Connor Clark

Hustle Award: Gabe Gonyea and Noah Adams

Eye Opener Award: Nathan Kleppe

The seniors this year (Mitchell Hansmann, Easton Foss, Connor Clark, James Pixley, Gabe Gonyea, Logan Stahl) have given so much for this program and we are so proud of all of their accomplishments both individually and as a group.  They have helped to continue to positive trends for the program; believing in themselves, their teammates, their coaches, and the program as a whole.  They are leaving behind huge shoes to fill, but have done a great job of teaching and modeling how to go about filling them.

It also usually goes without mention (Not this time...) the amount of time and energy our varsity managers (Erin Pavelka, Amanda Basta, Danni Mullins, Hannah Bramer, Elijah Johnson, Taylor Kline, Dan Cranston) put into the boys and the program.  We would not be able to do a lot of the things we do without their help.

We also had a dedicated crowd that not only showed up for home games but became road-tough with us as we had a heavy dose of away games this year.  We are so excited about the increase in student and community involvement at our games and hope that this is just the beginning of what is to come!

We are very excited about the accomplishments so far, but are not satisfied with the end results yet.  We have laid down a great foundation thanks to the help of great young individuals in our program who have created the blueprint of success.  Those athletes coming up will need to continue to outwork the groups that came before them if this success will continue; they must continue to take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to them for us to continue to reach toward our goals.

UMD Team Camp

Cotter Summer Basketball Tournaments

Mora 3 on 3

Spring Valley 3 on 3

Noah Dahlman Basketball Camps 2015

Varsity Boys Basketball End of the Year Awards/Banquet

The Varsity Boys Basketball End of the Year Awards/Banquet will be on 3/15/15 at 6 PM in the 7th grade commons.

All (Family/Younger Players) are welcome to partake and enjoy the Varsity Banquet.

$5/person for non-boys basketball players/managers.

7th Grade HOOPs Season Summary 2014-15

Home Tournament (7th Grade) 3/7/15 Recap

Clear Lake 3 on 3

Post Season Varsity Team Meeting

The post season varsity team meeting it TODAY after school in Coach Allen's room.

Individual Meetings - Grades 7-12

All boy basketball players who played on a school team this year (7th, 8th, C, JV, V) should sign up for their end of the year individual meeting with Coach Allen.

The meetings are either before or after school on March 9-13.

The sign up is on Coach Allen's classroom door.

This is a mandatory meeting.  The transcripts of the meeting will be mailed home along with Summer/Offseason information.

7th Grade Boys HOOPs Tournament

We are in need of workers for a HOOPs tournament this Saturday.

Boys who participated on the C, JV, and Varsity teams could/should sign up.

The sign up is on Coach Allen's classroom door.

Pierz 3 on 3

Al "Haitian Temptation" Sands

Before the game on Saturday, The Pine City Boys Basketball Team had the pleasure of having Al "Haitian Temptation" Sands speak to them about the game they were about to play.

Al brought in his two Championship belts that he has accumulated as a cruiserweight professional boxer, talking the the boys about "where they come from" and coming from "strength first".

The Haitian Temptation is currently 15-1 as a boxer with 13 KO's.  He is currently working on going back to his home nation of Haiti, where he was adopted from at 18 months, to do some community and volunteer work.

To see more information on Al's next adventure in Haiti, please visit: GoFundMe.com/haitiantemptation

2/28/15 (7AA Playoffs Round 2: Barnum @Duluth Denfeld) Game Recap

Scoring was tough to come by on Saturday night at Duluth Denfeld High School for #4 Pine City against #1 Branum in the second round of the 7AA playoffs as PC lost 63-36.

The Dragons fought hard throughout the contest, but were unable to stay with Barnum's athleticism and length.  Down only 14 at half, PC had worked hard to contain the potent Barnum attack while trying to get on the board themselves, but the lengthy 1-3-1 put on at the end of the 1st and into the 2nd proved to be too much for PC.

Noah Adams (10 points, 4 assists) lead The Dragons in scoring followed by Kole Jusczak (8 points) and Mitch Hansmann (8 points, 3 rebounds).

Easton Foss (6 points, 4 rebounds) did a good job trying to neutralize Barnum's star Brandon Newman while Connor Clark and James Pixley worked hard on the inside.

A HUGE thank you to all that came to support PC at Denfeld: students, fans, parents, family, and community members; it was wonderful to see a sea of green in the crowd!