Playing at the Target Center for the second time in the past three seasons, the Dragons boys basketball team looked like they were already in mid-season form. Pine City shot the ball very well despite playing in a professional arena, and showed stifling defense as they overwhelmed their opponent early. The Dragons took their foot off of the gas in the second half and coasted to their first win of the season on Saturday, Dec. 2.
Pine City 85, Duluth Marshall 39
The Dragons jumped out to a 3-0 lead early as Clay Logan hit a three within the first four seconds of the season, and the team never looked back. After the Dragons outside shot-heavy offense sputtered at Target Center two seasons ago, no such problems were evident this time. Pine City’s shots from behind the arc were falling from the outset, and they quickly put the Hilltoppers away with a 63-26 advantage at halftime. The Dragons finished with 13 made three’s.
“I thought the maturity and experience of our team, in all phases, managers, players, coaches, really showed,” said Dragons Head Coach Kyle Allen. “A lot of the boys had been through the Target Center experience before and they knew what to expect. We were able to get a shoot around in this year before, which was great, and I think it showed in our shooting numbers.”
The Dragons were led in scoring by the Logan brothers as sophomore Seth finished with a team-high 19 points and senior Clay had 17. Sophomore Konnor Jusczak hit four threes on his way to 14 points, and passed the ball effectively. Captain Jake Rademacher showed a nice floor game with nine points, five assists, and four rebounds.
“I thought Konnor had a great game,” added Allen. “He is learning our ‘creator’ role and is really trying to do it correctly. Jake Rademacher and Jake Adams are both also working on the ‘creator’ role in our offense, something we expect them both to continue to get better at. Clay and Seth can both score the ball, and both of them were able to do that consistently on Saturday, and in different ways.”
Other highlights included the play of Adams, who made his first career start, and senior Damien Schwab, a big post who continues to improve. Sophomore Tanner Wicktor scored his first varsity points and Christian Fromm, Cordell Major, Koleman Lind, along with Wicktor all logged their first varsity minutes. All 15 team members played.
Next up for the Dragons is a second trip to the cities. The team will play at Minneapolis Southwest (Class AAAA) on Tuesday, Dec. 5 before returning home for a rescheduled game against Ogilvie on Thursday, Dec. 7 after the Lions postponed the opener.
Logan, Hansmann Named to top 50 Class AA players by Minnesota Basketball News Press release
Clay Logan and Nick Hansmann of Pine City have been named by Minnesota Basketball News to the Top 50 Class AA Players list for 2017-2018.
Minnesota Basketball News lists the Top 50 Players for each class and ranks the Top 20 teams in each class along with highlights, stories, photos and columns.
Minnesota Basketball News, which has been provided by Pacesetter Sports since 1994, is published weekly each Friday during the season and is available free online at www.pacesettersports.net.
Varsity: W (85-39)
JV: W (56-24)
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