Pine City Pioneer, Jesse Logan
A tremendous boys basketball season came to an end for the Pine City Dragons on Tuesday, March 14 at St. Johns in Collegeville. The curtains closed on the Dragons’ once-in-a-lifetime campaign when they lost to the #4 team in the state in a game that came down to the final minute. Pine City lost the sub-section championship and a shot to play for the rights to go to State, but what they gained may have been even more valuable; the Dragons now know that they can play with anybody.
St. Cloud Cathedral 53, Pine City 49
The Crusaders were ranked the #1 team in the state in the preseason poll, and have been viewed as a powerhouse all year. Buoyed by a tall and talented frontcourt consisting of two 6’-6” players, Michael Schaefer and Mitchell Plombon, the Crusaders looked like a nightmare matchup on paper. Surprisingly to some, the Dragons controlled the tempo of the contest, led by three at the half, and actually out-rebounded the Crusaders in the game.
“Pine City’s community came out, the students came out, had the pep band there, it was a great atmosphere,” said Dragons head coach Kyle Allen. “Really proud of the boys and the way they came out and executed the game plan. Up three at the half, we were really excited. I thought we had played well and executed well. They hit us for a quick five or seven points to start the second half, but it went back and forth for a while. Neither team had a substantial lead at any point in time. Came out and again kind of did what was asked of us. I was really, really proud.”
While the Dragons held the tandem of Plombon and Schaefer to just ten points in the second half, it was the starting backcourt of the Crusaders that went a combined 5-8 from beyond the three point arc to key a run that would ultimately be the difference in the game.
“It was a 50/50 game,” Allen said of the even feel between the teams. “We out-rebounded them, which I thought was very impressive for us. We tried to make someone else beat us besides the two bigs. You know, Jackson Jangula goes 3-4 from three in the second half and Keaton LeClaire goes 2-4 and hit some big shots. That was the difference in the second half. They also scored some points off of turnovers, which didn’t help as well. I couldn’t be prouder of the boys though, their focus, their energy, was all great, and we went in there and proved a little bit to ourselves, and maybe to everyone else, that we can play with the best.”
After a season-high point total in the previous game, it was clear that the Crusaders came in aiming to stop sophomore shooter Nick Hansmann. The Crusaders put their best defender squarely in Hansmann’s face all night, and held him to just three points. Clay Logan led the Dragons in scoring with 18, and a late three by Jake Rademacher made him the only other Dragon in double digits with 11. Logan and Rademacher were named to the All-Section team.
“They really keyed in on Nick,” said Allen. “He had had a nice game previously against Milaca with his shooting, so Clay and Jake took on more of the scoring mode, which was fine. We have a lot of guys that can score the ball. I also thought Damien Schwab came in off of the bench and gave us some really vital minutes; he was second on the team in rebounds. Give credit to Nick, they really found ways to try to isolate him on the offensive end, they put their best defender on him, but he was our leading rebounder so he still found ways to contribute. Clay Logan led us in assists with four. I just thought we played well within ourselves and well within our concepts. Jake Lunceford had a rebound game, did well on the offensive end for us, and again continued to do well on the defensive end.”
One of the more memorable moments in the contest came when the 6’7” Schwab stuffed one of Cathedral’s twin towers and earned a jump ball. Schwab’s inside presence was felt at key times in the contest, and throughout the playoff run. Senior Austin Hansmann had a timely three pointer, and fellow senior Adam Seals had a nice driving layup to go along with a pair of made free throws for four points.
“A huge thank you to our seniors,” added Allen. “Adam and Austin have been with me a long time. They’re my first group to go 7-12 with me. It’s fun to look back on the program and see where it was when we started and where we are now, competed in a sub-section championship game with them. That was a lot of fun and I’m really proud of those two. They’ve both really improved, stuck with it, and were great young men. Proud of who they’ve become and where they’re both going.”
The Dragons also got some big individual plays from several underclassmen who came in off of the bench, including Jake Adams and Seth Logan. Adams had a huge three-point play on a key possession in the second half, and Logan finished with four points as well as some key hustle plays in taking charge and saving a possession.
“In the end,” said Allen, “we talk about it all the time with the boys in our circle, in terms of what we can do, what we have the potential to do as a group and as a program, and we want to do everything we can do to continue to take steps forward. Our goals are to put a year on the banner. We want to win games, that’s our goal. Our purpose is educational and we want to create great young men, but our goal is to win games. So for us to put a year on the banner, we came really close this year. We’re excited about where we’re going. As much as it hurts in the now, we’re excited for what’s coming.”
The Dragons will return all five starters next year and have a loaded bench full of players who are eager to prove they can play. As always, the group will be very busy in the offseason working on improving. Despite a painful loss in a sub-section championship game that would have put, as coach says, a year on the banner, it’s clear that the team didn’t let notoriety go to their heads. From a national story in the Wall Street Journal to local coverage by Fox 9, KFAN, GoNews, and others, it’s clear this team’s work ethic was unaffected. If anything, it seems these Dragons now truly believe they can achieve great things. Pine City finished with a 22-7 record in 2016-17.
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