East Central 69
Pine City 51
The East Central Boys Basketball team defeated Pine City on Thursday. The win broke a 10 year losing streak to Pine City and broke the Dragon's 36 game conference unbeaten streak.
The Eagles and Dragons faced off in a battle of the unbeatens last Thursday. Eagles are a veteran team, with 7 players returning from last years team and 8 seniors. While Pine City has only one returning starter, who is a senior. East Central got out to an early, after forcing Pine City into early turnovers and foul trouble. The Dragons attempted to get the three's to fall but were just off the mark, this helped the Eagles to continue to build on their lead. At the end of the first half the Eagles held the lead 36-20. Coming into the 2nd half East Central's defense was suffocating the Dragons on the offensive side. Nearly every shot the Dragons took was contested by more than one defender. The Eagles got themselves into a bit of foul trouble in the 2nd half, and Pine City was able to capitalize at the free throw line. But the Eagles weren't going to let their lead slip away. After making some corrections the Eagles stayed clean throughout the rest of the game, and this helped them pull away. The Dragons were unable to complete the comeback in this game, and the Eagles would go on to win. This is East Central's first victory over Pine City since the 2010-2011 season, when the Eagles beat the Dragons twice in that season.
With the win the Eagles remain unbeaten at 5-0, and will take on 0-3 Wrenshall on Monday night. The Dragons fall to 4-1 on the season, and will play Hinckley-Finlayson on Tuesday night.
