Blue Jays fall in deep hole in loss

There are deep holes, then there are deep holes.

The Blue Jays found themselves in one Tuesday night and had no chance to climb out.

Mandan scored the first 20 points of the game and, not surprisingly, cruised the rest of the way to an 80-58 West Region victory.

It took the Blue Jays almost five minutes to score, although once they did, they eventually chipped away and made a game of it for a while.

They cut the lead to nine a handful of times in the first half, the last time on a 3-pointer by Ashton Johnson to make it 40-31. Lucas Keller played a part in keeping it close with a trio of first-half 3-balls.

But after the brutal start to the game, the Blue Jays had another lull to start the second half as Mandan scored the first 11 points and the lead was back to 20 where it stayed most of the game.

South Dakota Mines recruit Erron Collins carried the load for the Braves with 29 points.

Nathan Schmidt was also in double figures with 16 as Mandan improved to 5-8 overall and 5-4 in the West Region with two of their wins coming over the Blue Jays.

Lucas Keller topped the Blue Jays with 11 points. Austin Remmick added nine as JHS dropped to 1-6 in region contests and 2-8 overall.

It gets no easier Saturday as Bismarck comes to town for a West Region contest slated for 7:45 p.m.

The Blue Jay girls get their turn in Mandan Thursday night. Jamestown won the first meeting of the two in overtime when they meet here in December.

Mandan 80, Jamestown 58

Jamestown 31 27 — 58

Mandan 42 38 — 80

Jamestown — Lucas Keller 11, Austin Remmick 9, McKade Kleinknecht 7, Brandon Wegner 5, Marc Wagner 5, David Hanson 4, Scott Nelson 4, Alex McInnes 4, Phil Manley 4.

Mandan — Erron Collins 29, Nathan Schmidt 16, Jacob Hanson 9, Daniel Peterson 5, Keetan Wanner 4, Austin Tweet 3, Dustin Hermanson 2, Dylan Schulz 2.

Tags: sports, jays, basketball