The Dragon boys basketball team hosted Chisago Lakes on Tuesday night.
As the game began Pine City encountered a challenge the height of the Wildcats team. But this never detered them from battling with the bigs. Although the Wildcats got off to a hot start the Dragons passion never wavered. Down double digits early the Dragons needed a spark, and Austin Wiener provided that off the bench. He came in and got physical inside and dropped in some tough layups plus a three before the half ended. The team fed off of his production and they seemed to get into a rhythm. One of the biggest ways they found a groove was getting the preimeter shots to fall. They would hit six three's in the first half alone. While, their offense got hot, unfortuantely Chisago's stayed hot and held a double digit lead all throughout the first half. Despite this Pine City's enegry was still high and they battled hard, but trailed at half 54-34.
The 2nd half got out to a sluggish start for the Dragons, but agian the Wildcats remained in rhythm. It was their defense which seemed to provide the offense with the spark they needed this time. Grabbing some key turnovers and big time rebounds. Bryer Willert battled in the paint amongst the Wildcats players who stood 6'5" and over, yet he still wound up with 9 rebounds in the game to lead the team. With all the hard work being put into rebounding the shots started to fall for Pine City. They would nail 5 more three pointers in the second half. Though at the end of the game they came out on the losing end, the Dragons did alot of good in the game and now have something positive to build on moving forward. Chisago Lakes 99 Pine City 68.
The Dragons fall to 0-4 with the loss but are encouraged about the future. They'll host Great River Conference foe Ogilvie on Thursday night.
Scoring
Pine City
Austin Wiener 22
Charlie Ausmus 17
Bryer Willer 12
Eli Fromm and Jace Peterson 5
Sawyer McDaniel 3
Grant Larson and Daniel Milliman 2
