Pine City Falls on Opening Night on the Road

The Dragons traveled to Zimmerman on Monday night.

Pine City comes into the season as a younger squad, with a mix of experience. Early on against the Thunder, they were moving the ball well and even held a 5-1 lead. But the speed, height and experience of Zimmerman soon took over. The Thunder quickly took over the lead and Pine City was playing catch up. While the inexperience showed, they had a few good things to build on. Their offense struggled to get going as most of the Thunder players stood 6'3 or taller, so most of their shots from deep were either guarded well, or simply blocked. The Dragons also turned the ball over more times than they would've liked. They were down at half 56-19.

Despite about halfway through the 2nd half the Thunder had their 2nd stringers in, Pine City held Zimmerman to 18 points. Their defense stepped up and created more turnovers and while the offense couldn't quite get the scoring going, they still spent more time in their offensive zone. As the game ended the Dragons fell 74-35, but they do have some good things to build on this season. It will take patience but this team will grow and become much better by the end of the season.

Pine City will host Ogilvie on Tuesday.

Scoring

Pine City:

Grant Haverhals 12 points, 6 rebounds and 1 steal

Grant Larson 9 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals

Tanner Fix 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals

Grant Skluzacek 3 points and 3 rebounds

Kevin McKellar 2 points, 4 rebounds and 1 steal

Mitchell Skluzacek 1 point