1/13/17: @Aitkin

• Pine City Pioneer
  By Jesse Logan, Sports@pinecitymn.com
 
• Jan 20, 2017
• 
  

After having an early-week game canceled due to weather, the Pine City Dragons boys basketball team made the most of their lone contest later in the week. The Dragons have been a notoriously slow starting team this season, but came out of the gates on fire on Friday, Jan. 13, and blew out their opponents on the road. Pine City is now 9-3 overall.

Pine City 75, Aitkin 35

The Dragons built a huge 50-18 lead at the half, sparked primarily by great defense and intense rebounding. Typically against bigger teams, Pine City struggles early in games, but on this night the Dragons crashed the boards relentlessly and set the tone early. The Dragons posted 39 rebounds in the contest.

On the offensive end, the night belonged to Clay Logan. He was the only Dragon in double figures and scored 35 points on 10-20 shooting. Logan was also an impressive 11-12 from the free throw line with six rebounds and zero turnovers, while just missing the school record for points in a game by four. 

Nick Hansmann had nine points and continued to show nice touch from outside with three made threes. Freshman Seth Logan had seven points and a team-high eight rebounds while drawing his first varsity start with point guard Nathan Kleppe battling illness.

“We came out great, we executed the game plan. We did what we wanted to. Our boys played with great intensity and great focus. Aitkin is a tough team. They have some size that we don’t have and that’s a tough road trip. I was proud of how our boys showed great composure. Clay Logan played phenomenal on the offensive end. The hoop got bigger for him as the game went on. Did some nice things and did them within the concepts of our offense.”

Jake Lunceford again embraced his role as the defensive stopper for the Dragons. Lunceford drew Hunter Moe, who had been playing very well lately, and held him in check all night. Jake Rademacher had six points and five rebounds, and senior Adam Seals had six rebounds.

“I’m really excited,” said Allen. “Boys are continuing to buy in. The boys continue to fight and execute. I thought it was our most complete game of the season. We really played well. We hope we can duplicate this success moving forward.”

The Dragons were scheduled to play two road games in the upcoming week. First, the team traveled to East Central on Tuesday, Jan. 17, and will play two nights later on Thursday, Jan. 19 at Rush City.

Varsity: W (75-35)
JV: W (57-37)
C: L (28-39)