Bluejays Handle Cougars

By Clare Wiltse

Sports Contributor

The Cougar’s old nemesis got the best of them in the opening round of the D-3  Sub-districts  held at Pender on February 25.  The Walthill Blujays used a zone defense to shut down the Maroon as they defeated Northeast 56-46.

“We’ve had trouble with zone defenses all season,” said Coach Lahm.  “If we just had a little more size inside it could make a big difference on how we could be able to attack.”

Riecken got the team off to a great start by scoring the first 3 points of the game.  He opened with a free-throw and added a field goal on the team’s fourth possession to make it 3-0 for the Cougars.

The Blujays were stymied by three straight turnovers.  They finally scored with a lob to Sheldon Sheridan.  Once they scored Walthill was able to set up a full court press and the Cougars were rattled into nine first quarter turnovers.  Walthill continued to  attack the paint as Sheridan scored ten of his team-high 14 points in the first quarter.   Northeast only got off three more shots in the period and trailed  11-3.

In the second period the Blujays continued scoring as they completed a 22-0 run to take a 22-3 lead.  Northeast finally broke out the offense after Chevy Henneman scored with 3:28 to play in he half.  They closed out the half by out scoring Walthill 11-7.  Dakota Riecken got two goals and two free throws and Henneman closed out the half with a trey.  Walthill led 29-14.

The Cougars chopped into the fifteen point deficit several times in the third period.  They opened with a deuce by Riecken and trey by Simpson to pull within ten points.

Turnovers continued to hurt the Northeast cause as Walthill got eight points off of errant  Cougar passes.  Northeast found themselves down 37-23.  A three-pointer by Simpson made it an eleven point game.  Riecken scored twice to match the Blujays,  but they pulled away with two late scores to have a 46-30 advantage after three quarters.

Walthill went one for five at the start of the fourth quarter.  Northeast made a move as Simpson, Henneman and Bishop scored to make it a 48-36 game.  A trey by Simpson and basket by Hegy cut the lead to nine with three minutes to play.   Walthill scored on their next two trips down the court.  Hegy drew a shooting foul with 1:25 to play. His free shots made it 54-43.  The Cougars still had hope after Walthill missed on the front end of two one-and-ones, but all they could add is a basket by Bobby Simpson and one free throw by Dakota Riecken.

Dakota Riecken led the Cougars with 16 points and 10 rebounds.  This was his sixth double-double of the season. , Bobby Simpson had 13 points.   The Cougars finished the season with an 11-11 record.  Walthill went 11-9.

LDNE              3          11        16        16        -46

Walthill            11        18        17        10        -56

2pt       3pt       FT        Rb        F          TP

Chevy H           2          1          0/0       3          4          7

Alex B              1          0          0/1       6          2          2

Bobby S           2          3          0/0       2          4          13

Taylor F           0          0          0/0       0          1          0

Dakota R         6          0          4/8       10        4          16

Marcus H         2          0          2/2       3          2          6

David B            1          0          0/0       2          0          2

Dylan H            0          0          0/0       0          1          0

Team                14/30   4/19     6/11     25        18        46

Walthill 16//33  4/8       12/20   25        14        56
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