The GACC Boys had their way with East Butler in the D1-2 District Final at Clarkson last Tuesday night, winning 68-39.
The Tigers hit the first basket of the game, but the Bluejays quickly went on an 11-0 run, and led 16-10 after one. GACC won the second quarter 16-12 to take a 32-22 lead into the locker room thanks to a Sam Ulrich made shot near the end of the half.
The Bluejays outscored East Butler 24-11 in the third quarter to go up 56-33 at the end of three.
GACC doubled up the Tigers 12-6 in the fourth quarter.
The Bluejays were led by Kobe Slaughter, who had a game-high 22 points. Nolan Plagge chipped in 17 while Mitch Haas registered 11. Cole Kreikemeier totaled 8 rebounds.
Head Coach Brad Slaughter. "I mean they're a very nice team. I was wondering a little bit about the depth. I thought maybe the man pressure would get them tired and stuff, and it did get them tired. And they were gassed at the end. And we're conditioned well. So the key for us was pressure and just being smart with the ball."
Slaughter says his team was ready for the Tigers. "Yeah we had a good game plan for East Butler. We were wanting to create a lot of pressure for them, and we thought that would help us out in a couple different ways, but number one making them tired and also limiting the best shot selection."
14-13 and 8th seeded Guardian Angels Central Catholic and 23-3 and top seeded Dundy County-Stratton square off in the first round of the Class D-1 Boys State Basketball Tournament in Lincoln on Thursday. Slaughter says the Tigers are a very worthy opponent. "Well I think it's going to be a great game. They definitely have some nice athletes, they have some nice scorers. They've put together a very, very good season, and to play that many games and have that kind of record is a testimony to their team and part of their tradition."
The Bluejays are making their first appearance at state since 2012 while Dundy County-Stratton is there for the 3rd year in a row.
It'll be Slaughter's first trip to state. "We want to enjoy the moment. The seniors and all the kids that worked hard I mean I want them to cherish this opportunity. And of course we're going down to compete at a high level. We don't just want to get there, we want to get there and play."
The Bluejays will try and duplicate the girls' efforts at the state tournament this weekend by knocking off Dundy County-Stratton and winning state. Slaughter says it would be a tremendous accomplishment for both Bluejay teams to win state, but the D-1 field isn't easy by any means. "Well that would be great, that would be fun, it would be a great time to be a Bluejay. But we got our work cut out for us. It's definitely feasible, I mean the field that we have, the field of 8 teams, I mean looks to be a pretty well balanced field. And which the team that gets on the hot hand and the roll at any given point in time is probably going to come out pretty good."
I think GACC has a shot to win state.
The Bluejays have played their best basketball of the season as of late, in my opinion, and have played a very tough schedule, and are battle tested.
If GACC plays the way they did against Walthill and East Butler there's no doubt in my mind they have a chance to do something in this state tournament.
Basketball is really strong in the Mid-State Conference and in Northeast Nebraska, and I think the Bluejays will represent themselves very well in this State Tournament.
It would be awesome for GACC to play at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Saturday. That's every kid's dream.
Thursday's game, which is set to start at 2:00 p.m. at Lincoln East, will air on 107.9 the Bull.
No comments:
Post a Comment