Bears pick up two more wins
by Coach Dale Finck
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| Jordan Ashbaugh attempted to stop his Huskies opponent's shot. The Bears defeated the Huskies 67-43. -photo by Matt Ganz |
The Bears basketball team picked up two more wins in the Park-Region Conference to improve to 4-0 in the conference and 9-0 overall. The Bears hosted the Pillager Huskies on Tuesday and traveled to Menahga on Friday night.
The Huskies came out ready to compete and the Bears struggled to knock down their shots early in the game. The Bears scored the first 5 points, but the Huskies came right back and tied the score with 15 minutes left in the half at 5 all.
The Bears went inside to Hartung and Ashbaugh for the next 9 points to spark the Bears offense. Ashbaugh lead the Bears with some good passing and pounded in 10 points. We extended the lead to 23-10, but found the Huskies continuing to battle. The Huskies played well. They just couldn't knock down the open shots and had no answer for our inside play. We scored 21 out of the 35 points with our post. At halftime we were up 35 21.
The Huskies hit two buckets early in the second half to pull within 10 points 35-25 with 16 minutes to go. The Bears then went on a 90 run and gained complete control of the game. The Bears struggled from the perimeter, but did a nice job adjusting. The Huskies came after the Bears and we handled their pressure well. We played a little flat, but made sure to take advantage of our strength inside which helped lead us to a 6743 win over the Huskies.
On Friday night the Bears traveled to Menahga and found themselves down by 4 points to start the game, giving up a couple of free looks at the basket. The Bears answered and found themselves tied 8 all with 15 minutes remaining.
We then went on a 100 run, but seemed a little uneasy about the game. The Braves like to trap and really play aggressive defense. We struggled early on to settle into the flow of the game, but we were the more talented team and needed to just keep the court spread and move the ball around. At 7:20 left in the first half the Bears were up 24-14.
The Bears wouldn't allow another point by the Braves until 15:55 in the second half. During that time the Bears team played behind the leaders of Riewer, Hartung, Ashbaugh and Denny tossed in 37 of the 39 points in the half. We found the open players and made some good plays in traffic. The Bears went into the locker room at halftime up 39 -14.
The second half brought more of the same for both teams. The Braves couldn't handle the inside play or the defensive pressure of the Bears in the half court. Ashbaugh put together his biggest scoring night with 15 points. The big four went off for 15 from Ashbaugh, 18 by Riewer, 19 from Denny, and Hartung lead the Bears with 21. We really did a nice job as a team to find the open players and took advantage of what the Braves gave us.
It just so happened that most of the scoring Friday night came from four guys. The team does a great job of taking what the opponent gives us and we did just that throughout the game. With a convincing 88-39 win the Bears improved their record to 4-0 in the PRC and 9-0 for the season.
vs. Pillager
Pts Reb Assist
Riewer 10 4 6
Hartung 17 4 2
Byland 0 0 1
Denny 20 3 4
Lipinski 0 0 0
Kirscht 3 5 2
Roller 3 2 3
Dettwiler 2 2 1
Schuller 2 0 0
Madsen 0 0 0
Ashbaugh 10 6 3
Strichers 0 0 0
vs. Menahga
Pts Reb Assist
Riewer 18 4 3
Hartung 21 1 3
Byland 6 1 1
Denny 19 4 8
Lipinski 2 3 0
Roller 0 3 4
Dettwiler 0 3 3
Schuller 3 3 0
Farber 4 1 0
Ashbaugh 15 5 1