3/11/17: Milaca @St. John's University (Playoffs - Round 2)

Varsity: W (60-57)

Pine City will take on St. Cloud Cathedral at 6PM on Tuesday at St. John's University.

Pine City Pioneer, Jesse Logan

The Section 6AA playoffs are underway and the Pine City boys basketball team is excelling. The Dragons have advanced to the section semifinals for the first time in nine years and did so in thrilling fashion. Running their record to 22-6, one of the top records in school history, this group of Dragons is riding high. With wins over Mora and Milaca in the opening rounds, Pine City is just two games away from making the State Tournament.

Pine City 60, Milaca 57

After losing to the Wolves 83-61 back in January, the Dragons knew they would have to play a much better game to hang with a tough team like Milaca. The Wolves have four senior starters, were taller than the Dragons across the board, and came in ranked roughly 20 slots higher than Pine City in the QRF. The game was close throughout, with no team leading by more than six the entire contest. Pine City ran into some foul trouble late in the first half, and Milaca capitalized to take a three point lead at the break. 

“What a fun, fun atmosphere and exciting game,” Allen said. "A back and forth game but we kept it a game at half, being down three. At the half we had played 13 players in the game. It’s awesome to be able to do that. Damien Schwab really came in and did a nice job, we needed his size. They had some big boys, very physical seniors. Damien took up some space in the middle on the defensive end. A lot of our boys played well. Jake Rademacher and Nick Hansmann shot really well.”

Pine City came out firing in the second half and a three by Logan tied the game up right away. In fact, Pine City would lead for most of the second half until a late run by the Wolves had them up five with 2:30 to play. The Dragons never panicked and would make some huge plays with the game on the line. 

Nick Hansmann was spectacular all game, netting six threes including two back-to-back daggers in the final 2:30. With the game tied as the one minute mark approached, Logan got a huge steal and made a tough left-handed layup at the other end to put Pine City up by two, and up for good. After both Logan and Nathan Kleppe made a pair of clutch free throws in the final :40, the Dragons were able to hold their breath. Milaca had a good look at a buzzer-beater three that would have tied it, but the Wolves season came to an end when the shot came up short. 

“People are going to remember Nick hitting back to back threes with under two-and-a-half minutes left,” said Allen. “We were down five with two and a half to go, it was just great to see our boys never give up. They fought and never gave up. We just kept doing it our way. Never lost our composure. Showed a lot of heart and a lot of grit. Fun game to watch.”

Throughout the contest, so many players stepped up in various ways, but none bigger than Hansmann who scored a game-high 24 while going 6-11 from three. Logan finished with 13 including four in the final minute. Rademacher had 11 points and eight rebounds as the Dragons shockingly out-rebounded a taller Wolves team that had dominated the boards earlier in the season. It was truly a team win, and so many players stepped up. 

“All of the guys made plays,” said Allen. “From Seth Logan hitting a deep three, Roddy taking a huge charge, Nathan Kleppe being clutch at the line, Clay making plays, Jake Adams had a huge and-one at a big moment. The list goes on and on, it was a total team win. We had so many fans and tremendous support from the community. It was awesome.”

The biggest win of Allen’s six-year tenure has put the Dragons in the Sub-Section Championship game against St. Cloud Cathedral. The Crusaders will be a tough opponent on Tuesday, March 14. Cathedral is ranked #4 in the state and was the preseason #1 team. Pine City will have to play their best game once again to earn a victory. 

“Really excited for that game against Cathedral,” said Allen. “I hope we have a great crowd come again. We have a game plan in place and we’re ready to go. Boys are excited and it should be fun. Its going to be a good game.”