2021-2022 Year in Review

Boys Basketball names all-conference and honorable mention earners, coach reflects on season

By Heidi Burger editor@pinecitymn.com

The Dragon Boys Basketball team had their end-of-season banquet on Sunday, April 24. Many were in attendance to celebrate the athletes and coaches. 

Reflection on season

An end to a season is bittersweet, but it is always good to look back and reflect on each season. Coach Allen and the Dragon boys have goals they set each season. This 2021-2022 season, they accomplished their goal of again winning the conference title. They also were able to go undefeated in their conference.

When asked about goals, Coach Allen said one goal that was not accomplished was to win twenty-plus games in the season. This is a goal that the Dragons always have and have been able to achieve each of the past seasons since 2015. This year, they fell short by two. When asked why, Coach Allen said, “We felt we really needed to up our level of play, so we added better and bigger competition. Good for us, but we weren’t able to reach that goal of twenty-plus wins.”

Allen feels the team’s section is one of the toughest in the state. “This really speaks to the level of play in our section,” he said. Allen and the Dragons have worked hard and have accomplished many feats in the past years. It has been beneficial to have such tough competition.

Any regrets this season? 

Coach Allen responded, “It took awhile to gel and get started … which was weird. We start over every year. We decided to bridge the two years (because of COVID). The hope was that we would be farther along at the start this year, but it didn’t work that way. Maybe it wasn’t the right move to make, and then coupled with tough play. But we really found our groove as the season went along. We were playing our best ball by the end of the year.”

Looking forward

Coach Allen said, “A very talented JV group. We will lose six guys, but we are excited about the group coming in. They are different, possibly the most athletic group we’ve had yet in my opinion. We should have eight returning varsity players and hopefully more fighting for varsity spots. The returning varsity players are Riley Cummings, Nick Plasek, Mason Charles, Lamont  Sydney, Isaiah Hasz, Ashton Seals, Luke Wilson, and Merek Overtoom.

Summer basketball is designed to give the boys as much opportunity as possible. Allen is pumped to use the new weight room and very appreciative of all that has been done to make huge improvements on it. “Off season is all about the individual and what they need to get better and us giving them that opportunity for them,” stated Allen.

When asked why he coaches, what is his motivation in building this program, Coach Allen replied, “I coach for the relationships. We do things differently in our program. I think it is really cliche to say your team or program is ‘family,’ but we really do believe and act that way. This includes the good and the bad. You love your family, but families also fight because they are so close and together so much. We bring in anyone/everyone that is willing to do what we ask; there is a mutual love and respect for those who chose to walk the walk. Giving our youth the opportunity to be a part of what we do and how we do it is why I coach. I want to help create great young men and women through basketball.”

Here is what Coach Allen has to say about the senior basketball players who will be graduating this spring: “On Kameron Jusczak, what a storied career. He will go down as one of the best to put on a Pine City jersey; On Dylan Petersen, his grit and grind were second to none. His heart made him as special as he was; On Jason Thieman, Jason’s growth as a player from the start to end of his career has been impressive. He went from a kid who had never played organized basketball to a huge cog on the last two conference championship teams; On Colton Blaisdell, I can’t say this enough – Colton is the smartest kid in the school. His ability to do what was asked of him and put the team first will live on in our program. He will forever be the example; On Cole Waxberg, Cole was a special basketball player and scorer. Some things you cannot teach – Cole’s abilities were special; On Micah Overtoom, Micah took on a leadership role in the program this year. He put the program and team first always. He helped grow and advance our program; and on team manager Brynna Reiser, she is one of the best managers I have had. She is organized, has phenomenal leadership qualities and most importantly, can keep me from losing my mind!” 

All-Conference, Honorable Mention

This year’s All-Conference earners are Kameron Jusczak, Dylan Petersen, Cole Waxberg, and Luke Wilson. Colton Blaisdell earned Honorable-Mention. Jusczak also won Conference MVP.