The Dragon boys basketball team had a busy week with three games, all on the road. They faced neighboring team Braham Bombers on Jan. 24.
Pine City 84, Braham 58
Braham hit a 3-pointer to start off the game. It took a few minutes, but the Dragons were able to get a rebound and put-back by Senior Riley Cummings. Senior Luke Wilson then followed with a deep 3-pointer to put the Dragons in the lead 5-3. Ten minutes into the first half the Dragons had a 10-point lead.
Braham would gain a little momentum and bring the score to within 8 points at the half. But the Dragons came out strong the second half, found their groove and finished the game with a solid finish. The score was 84-58.
“History comes at ya in this gym, years of great basketball were played here for a long time,” said coach Kyle Allen. Braham has a record for the most consecutive conference wins and most consecutive home wins in state history, he added. “We ended that streak and so we have some proud moments going over there. The first half was really a grind, both teams coming out ready to play. We got into foul trouble in the first half, so we ended up changing the rotation and the guys responded well. The second half we were able to pull away and wore them down.”
Senior Riley Cummings pulled down 11 rebounds, and senior Luke Wilson had 8 big assists.
Pine City 76, Rush City 69
The Dragons then traveled to rival Rush City on Friday, Jan. 27. It was a crazy crowd, and the fans were all there to cheer on their team. Rush City was eager for a win this night.
In the first half, the Dragons trailed and couldn’t seem to pull ahead. The score stayed within a few points most of the first half. At half time, the score was 39-38; the Dragons had their first lead of the game by one point. But they came out the second half and stuck to their game, and it paid off.
These boys know the system, and it worked. They pulled ahead and kept pulling ahead until the end of the game. The score ended 76-69, another win for the Dragons.
“Our boys found themselves down in the first half, by about 10 points. But we stayed with the rotation and stayed with the system and didn’t flinch, grinding out a win,” said Allen. “I was obviously happy with the outcome but was very happy with the process.”
Cummings and Wilson again provided the team with boards and assists, as well as senior Lamont Sydney.
Hiawatha Collegiate 90, Pine City 62
The boys then headed down to play a new school on their schedule, Hiawatha Collegiate. The game was a tough match up, and the Dragons fell behind in the second half. The final score was a 62-90 loss for the Dragons.
Allen said on the game, “On Saturday, we got the chance to go down to Hiawatha Collegiate, which was great for us. Sixty miles down the road, and it’s a whole new world of basketball – a new setting and a new opponent for us. It was very enjoyable.”
He added that the game got away from them a little bit in the second half. “They came out and hit quite a few shots in a row. I was very proud of our guys; they kept fighting and never put their head down,” noted Allen. “We use these games to prepare us for games like Rush and Braham. Now we’re looking forward to going up to East Central this coming week.”
The Dragon boys will play East Central on Tuesday, January 31 and then Mille Lacs on February 2.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.