Braves pull away from Jays
Stopping a much-more experienced Mandan team proved difficult for the Jamestown High School boys basketball team on Friday night. Nathan Schmidt had 13 of his game-high 20 points in the first half as the Braves rolled to a 72-55 win in West Region action at the JHS gym. As usual, the Braves hung their hat on defense, allowing only 24 first-half points.By: By Chris Aarhus, The Jamestown Sun, The Jamestown Sun
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Stopping a much-more experienced Mandan team proved difficult for the Jamestown High School boys basketball team on Friday night.
Nathan Schmidt had 13 of his game-high 20 points in the first half as the Braves rolled to a 72-55 win in West Region action at the JHS gym.
As usual, the Braves hung their hat on defense, allowing only 24 first-half points.
“That’s the staple of our program,” Mandan coach Jason Horner said. “I think we’ve got some guys with athleticism and size. We may not be able to score 72 every night, but I expect us to keep teams in the 50s.”
Jamestown showed fight early on, opening the game with a David Hanson 3-pointer from the right wing. The Blue Jays stayed competitive throughout the first half, trailing 32-24 with 2:25 remaining. The Braves scored the final five points of the half and the first seven points of the second half to bump their lead to 20.
“We have to play with energy,” Jamestown coach Kelley Kessler said. “We’re not gonna overwhelm anybody with athleticism. We have to get easy baskets. Right away, the kids were energetic and we got some easy baskets. Mandan makes adjustments to those things, and the pace of the game slows down a little bit.”
Hanson had 10 of his team-high 12 points in the first half for the Jays, who had 11 players score at least one point. Landon Weiser came off the bench to add nine.
Mandan ran wild in the second half, maintaining a significant lead throughout. Both teams emptied their benches with a few minutes to go, and the Jays were able to cut the deficit to less than 20.
Kessler said Mandan’s experience played a big factor. Jamestown graduated nearly every minute of experience it had from last season.
“Some of them are used to playing at the pace of a Class A varsity game,” Kessler said of Mandan. “It’s something we’re gonna have to adapt to. It’s not an excuse, but we’re not used to playing at that pace. … Once we get into the season, we’ll be able to adjust to that and hopefully, some shots will go down.”
Jamestown visits Minot on Tuesday night.
Mandan 72, Jamestown 55
Mandan 37 72
Jamestown 24 55
Mandan — Nathan Schmidt 20, Erron Collins 16, Dokken Olson 9, Justin Fenster 7, Daniel Peterson 6, Jacob Hanson 6, Keetan Wanner 4, Austin Tweet 2, Ross Effertz 2. Totals 33-66 5-14 72
Jamestown — David Hanson 12, Landon Weiser 9, Brandon Wagner 7, Lucas Keller 6, McKade Kleinknecht 5, Austin Remmick 5, Sean Lindberg 4, Nick Fuchs 2, Phil Manley 2, Ross Monson 2, Alex McInnes 1. Totals 22-49 7-11 55.
3-pointers, M 1-8 (Collins), J 4 (Kleinknecht, Weiser, Hanson, Remmick); Rebounds, M 42 (Olson 12), J 32 (Keller 5, McInnes 5); Assists, M 8 (Collins 5), J 7 (three with 2); Steals, M 9 (Collins 3, Schmidt 3), J 8 (Keller 2); Blocks, M 6 (Olson 4), J 2 (Hanson, Wagner); Fouls, M 14, J 18; Turnovers M 13, J 16.
Sun sportswriter Chris Aarhus can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by email at caarhus@jamestownsun.com
Tags: sports, jays, basketball
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