12/14/21: @St. Francis

Highlights: http://www.hudl.com/v/2GbyK9

Varsity: L (60-77)

JV: L

C-Squad: L

Boys basketball takes two tough losses for the week

By Heidi Burger Editor@pinecitymn.com

On Tuesday, Dec. 14, the Dragon Boys traveled to St. Francis with anticipation to play a strong, fast and talented team. They were looking forward to the opportunity to play the Saints. Coach Allen reflected on the game and said, “What a fun game and atmosphere. We knew going into the game that we were in for a battle.”

The Dragons came out strong and put up 15 points to the Saint’s 7. The Dragon’s offense was moving well, and they had a 15-8 lead. The Saints rallied, seized the momentum and then took the lead. When asked about the game, senior Cole Waxberg responded saying, “We kept dropping our feet on defense and couldn’t recover.”

The second part of the first half was tough as the Saints hit 5 3’s and pulled ahead with an 18 point lead at halftime. “We really fought back hard in the second half and were able to cut the lead to single digits a few times. The halftime hole just proved to be too much. We did beat them in the second half by one to take the 17 point loss,” added Allen.

The moment took a swing when Lamont Sydney, Waxberg and Luke Wilson took some big charges for the team. The Saints put up 51 points in the first half; however, the Dragons limited them to only 26 in the second half. The second half showed the Dragons playing a much better game at executing the game plan and adjusting. But there just wasn’t enough time to recover from the 51 points the Saints scored in the first half.

Allen stated, “When you play high level competition, the margin of error really goes away. Every mistake, missed assignment and miscommunication is amplified. It was so fun to be able to measure ourselves against some of the best.” For the Dragons, this was a non-conference game, so it will only affect their QRF rankings.

Senior Kameron Jusczak hit the boards by pulling down eight rebounds.  He also had an assist and two steals and put up 24 points for his team.  Luke Wilson also was big on the boards and grabbed eight rebounds while also being a team player with seven assists.  Wilson had eight points and three steals. Senior Dylan Peterson had five points, two rebounds, three assists, and a steal.  Jason Thieman had four points, one assist and two steals. Senior Cole Waxberg played a big part by putting up ten points, grabbing two rebounds, and getting one assist and one steal. Senior Colton Blaisdell had five points, two rebounds, and one assist. Lamont Sydney had three points and one rebound.

Coach Allen’s concluded by saying, “Luke Wilson really showed up in the box stats. He and Kameron Jusczak led us in rebounds with eight, and Wilson chipped in a game high seven assists. Overall, we did not meet many individual or team goals for this game.  We did not do enough to win. But we did get a good look at ourselves and are able to now adjust moving forward. I am excited about this game. We learn a lot more about ourselves in games like this. Our hope is it will spark growth in our team moving forward into this year.”

The Dragon Boys Basketball program has a strong foundation. They start in third grade running the same concepts as the varsity team. The goal is to master and build on these concepts throughout their years of play. Coach Allen gets the young kids interested and wanting to play ball like the big boys. The enthusiasm and excitement in the young kids is contagious.

The final score was a Dragon loss 77-60.

The Dragon boys will host North Branch on Tuesday, Dec. 21 at 7:15 pm.