Boys beat Jaguars, go undefeated in conference
By Lancelot E Furber
Pine City 77, Hinckley-Finlayson 67
Pine City Boys Basketball ended their regular season in front of a large crowd against conference rival Hinckley-Finlayson, on Friday, Feb. 28. This is the third straight year the Dragons have ended their regular season playing Hinckley-Finlayson. While the conference title was not on the line like the previous two years, Pine City knew Hinckley-Finlayson would come out firing on all cylinders and be ready to play. Pine City came up with the win 77-67.
Pine City had some rough stretches and rotations throughout the night. Give credit to Hinckely-Finlayson, they were ready to play and never backed down.
“The physicality of the game combined with Cedric LaFave’s quickness and ability was a great insight into playoffs for us,” said coach Kyle Allen. “Cedric played great and their team kept coming with physicality and grit. There was no chance for either team to catch their breath during the game.”
Seth Logan led Pine City on the boards with eight total rebounds followed by the Fromm brothers, Caleb and Christian, with five each.
“We did not do a great job on the boards as a team, something that will have to be addressed and corrected as we head towards the playoffs,” said coach Allen. “We had been doing a phenomenal job on the boards as of late, so I know this is something we can do.”
Konnor Jusczak led the Dragon in assists with seven. As a team, Pine City had 17 assists and only five turnovers. This ability to take care of the ball will be huge for them on the offensive end during the playoffs. While Pine City attempted nine charges, they were unable to get any called their way.
“Our belief is that the opportunity to take a charge is one of the biggest positive factors in the game,” said coach Allen “I was proud of how we continued to attempt charges and get to spots in our system.”
This win completed Pine City’s second year in a row going undefeated in conference and ended their regular season with a record of 24-2.
“Cutting the nets down at the end of the year never gets old; thinking about all the work that got us to this point (both this year and over the last nine years) really brings you down memory lane. This was something that we would visualize while we ran for conditioning in the first few years; visualize cutting down the nets. Putting ourselves in the position to compete for a conference title year in and year out is something we are really proud of. It is hard, because I want there to be a fine line between having this be the expectation and remembering how much work went into getting us to this point,” said coach Allen. “People forget that we won five games my first year and seven games my second. The players, coaches, and families have put in a lot of work to get to this point. There was a lot of groundwork that was put in during those first several years to creating the foundation needed for this success. I am forever grateful to those first couple years of players who were willing to buy in to something bigger than themselves to help create something that they would never fully see the fruits of. They laid the foundation for what drives us today”
JV: W
C-Squad: L
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