Lessons Learned

We had another one of those lesson learned type games last night. We traveled to Williston State to face the Tetons in a key Mon-Dak battle. We battled for a good portion but we were also a bit tentative in a 102-82 loss.

In the first half, WSC came out hot hitting their first eight shots, building a double digit lead early. We would get down by as much as 17, at 39-22 before our motors got going full blast and we cut the lead to five at half, 43-38. We were able to do this holding the Teton's without a field goal the last 5:20 of the half. The bench was huge, with Eric Elliott and Louis Williams each getting nine points and Kenric Twine getting six, combining for 24 of our 38.

The second half started well for us as we were able to cut the lead numerous times to two with chances to tie. The guys fought their backsides off to get back in the game. Despite our defense tightening and our offense starting to click we were not able to get the tie or lead which was a credit to the Tetons. Eventually they would make a couple mini runs of 6-2 or 8-2 to get the lead to double digits and a high of 22. We did make one last attempt at coming back with just over 5:00, cutting the lead back to 14 on six quick points.

For the game, the Tetons shot a blazing 66% from the field, including 6-13 from three. They also won the boards by a 39-35 count, and only grabbed seven rebounds. The Jacks shot 42% from the field, and 8-20 from three. We did have 22 steals, and forced 24 turnovers. Leading the way for us was Eric Elliott with a career high 19 points, with Malik Jones adding 16 and Louis Williams adding 15. A fun fact all three were teammates at Johnson High School in St. Paul, MN.

I really feel this team has a chance to be special and the guys know it, if we can get consistent we will make some noise in the Mon-Dak.

Current Standings
Dawson 2-1
Williston 2-1
DCB 2-1
NDSCS 2-1
Lake Region 1-2
BSC 0-2
UTTC 0-2