2/20/18: @Braham

Pine City Pioneer, Jesse Logan

With another pair of wins this past week, the Pine City boys basketball team has now eclipsed the 20-win mark for the third time in four seasons. The boys still have one regular season game remaining before entering the playoffs but gutted out a tight Great River Conference win this past week and also added a nice non-conference win to their resume.

Pine City 53, Braham 40

Offense was hard to come by in this game with Pine City trailing 20-10 with two minutes to play in the first half. The Dragons shot just 4-30 from downtown and struggled for long stretches on the offensive end. In the second half, a big spark was provided by junior Jake Adams, who played big defensively and scored 13 points after the break. Pine City rallied and got a season sweep of the Bombers for the first time in decades.

“Last year,” recalled Head Coach Kyle Allen, “Braham got us at home in a very similar game. We did not shoot well, and they overwhelmed us 72-58. It felt a lot like that on Tuesday night, only we were a lot more mature and composed and it showed on the court.  Give it to Braham, they were ready for us. Our guys could have panicked, could have given in, but they did not. I thought we showed a lot of grit and belief, a lot of composure and trust. The boys believed in our system and allowed our rebounds and defense to eventually win out

Nick Hansmann joined Adams as the top point scorers, each with 13, but Jake Rademacher came up with a game-high 13 rebounds which helped stem the tide. Rademacher and Seth Logan had nine points apiece. Although the scorebook looked bleak by their own standards, the Dragons had earned a key Great River Conference win in Braham on Feb. 20. Two nights later, the shots would fall much better and the Dragons would be back to looking more like themselves in another win.

Varsity: W (53-40)
JV: W (39-38)
C-Squad: L (53-58)