BV B and D Teams Victorious, A and C Fall to O'Gorman

A Game: BV 42, O'Gorman 47

(Sioux Falls, SD)-- The opening game in the Sioux Falls league saw high intensity action between Brandon Valley and the Knights of O'Gorman. The action was back and forth throughout the entire first half. As has been the case all year for the Lynx, inconsistency plagued them early on. The Lynx would break out into the lead, only to see the Knights come marching back. For the Knights, #3 gave BV fits all first quarter long. An ingenious coaching move by Coach Bisbee assigned Tony Tripp the task of shutting down #3. Tripp's defense put an end to any success the Knights sharp-shooter experienced in the first quarter. Tripp used his superior athleticism and toughness to make things miserable for the "could-explode-at-any-moment" #3. Coach Bisbee was pleased: "Tony did a great job shutting down there best player." On this occasion, the fans would see this game come down to the wire as neither team refused to quit in the third quarter and into the fourth. The Lynx found themselves behind by 6 to 8 points most of the way through the fourth quarter. Trevor Tobin, who struggled in the first half shooting the ball, kept his confidence and hit a big three with under a minute to play to tie the game. "That shot was huge!" exclaimed a exhilarated Bisbee. The coaches never lost faith in Tobin's ability to hit the big three. Bisbee also added, "I just knew he was going to hit a big shot eventually, I never doubted it for a second." In fact, when Tobin hit the momentum-changing three-pointer, Bisbee was so excited he turned to his assistant, Coach Klumper, and punched him in the shoulder, exclaiming "I knew it! I knew it!" Klumper's shoulder went numb, as if it had been injected with 7 syringes of Novocaine. Holding back the tears, Klumper, displaying the toughness of a 6 year old girl, remained on the bench for the remainder of the A game. After Tobin's big shot, O'G came down the floor and turned the ball over, which led to Chase Marso putting in a bucket to give the Lynx a two point lead and all the momentum in the world. O'G, down by two with the ball, could not muster up any half-way decent shot resulting in the Lynx taking over, seemingly in control of the game. It would come down to free throws for these ferocious felines. The Lynx stepped to the line, up by two, with 10 seconds remaining in the game, with a chance to ice the game. Two misses later, the Knights charged down the court and tossed up and made a miracle shot at the buzzer to tie. Overtime was needed on this afternoon to decide a very tough fought battle. In the overtime period, the Lynx got off to a slow start, allowing the Knights to build a sizable lead. That proved to be costly, especially in an overtime that is only two minutes long to begin with. The Knights managed to control the game and come away with the victory. For the Lynx, the loss was bitter. Free throws proved to be the undoing of a sure-thing victory. In the fourth quarter alone, the Lynx shot 4 out of 11 from the charity stripe. Despite the loss, a few Lynx turned in impressive performances. Other than Tripp's stifling defense, Chase Marso tallied a game high and season high 20 points. Marso got his 20 by dead-eye shooting from the three-point arc and penetrating moves to the basket. The Lynx will have a week off as parent/teacher conferences begin for Brandon Valley. They better get their rest, however, as they try to get back on the winning track when they play three games in three days on Feb. 18, 19, 20. All homes games, by the way. The Lynx fall to 4-3 on the season.



A- Game: BV 39, O'Gorman 29

(Sioux Falls, SD)-- The finale of the night on the campus of O'Gorman saw undefeated Brandon Valley, 6-0, facing off against the undefeated O'Gorman Knights, 17-0. The student section, decked out in their khakis pants and blue polo shirts, were ready to see their Knights slay the Fire-Breathing Lynx. Through some cunning scouting by coach Klumper during warm-ups, the Lynx learned that O'G pummeled Yankton by 20 earlier in the season. "It was actually pretty easy," said Klumper about the scouting, "I just asked some kid what their record was and who they have played." As the game got underway, coach Klumper took his spot on the bench with his arm in a sling from the earlier mishap (a.k.a punch). Phillip Volk was inspired by the display of courage from his coach: "I have never been so inspired as I was when I saw Coach Klumper get back from the ER and take his spot on the bench with us, a truly memorable moment in the history of my life." After hearing the quote, Klumper responded, "Thanks Phillip. You can be a starter for this game for saying that." The pre-game speech was all business, as Klumper knew that the Lynx could not take O'G for granted. "I knew these Knights were not going to show us any 'chivalry' tonight. I knew their 'armor' would be tough, their swords would be sharpened and their thirst for victory overflowing." Trey Ethreim responded, "What is he talking about?" The first half was all the game was cracked up to be, as the half-time score was 21-18 in favor of the Lynx. For BV, turnovers proved costly as they began to pile up in their high-paced style. Always looking to fast break, the Lynx came up against a team that could almost stick with them, causing bad passes and mis-handles. Klumper decided to scale back the attack and actually run some offense. "I knew we could dominate them in the paint. They simply let us get it in the post and from there, Garrett Martinmaas, Adam Guthmiller, Thomas Gardner and Zach Van Ede just dominated King Arthur and Lancelot," explained Klumper, using another cheesy reference of real knights. Ethriem again chimed in, "He basically is the only one that laughs at his jokes." As always, the defense of the Lynx was outstanding all game long. The most consistent thing for the Lynx during their seven game winning streak is their effort and defense. They need to keep that ball rolling as they begin to face tough opponent after tough opponent. The Lynx began to pull away in the second half, using solid free-throw shooting to keep the Knights from catching up. Unlike the A team, the GOATS dominated the free throw line in the fourth quarter, hitting 11 out of 12 from the line. Tom Gardner had ice water running through his veins as he did not miss a free throw the entire game. Garrett Martinmaas also hit big free throws as the Lynx won their seventh game of the year, improving to 7-0. Leading the Lynx in scoring was Martinmaas with 13 and Jared Mulder with 8. "It was a good test for us tonight," quipped Klumper, "It was good to face a quality team and to see where we stack up. We definitely passed the test tonight and anxiously await our next opponent."

C Game: BV 48, O'Gorman 51
(Wire Reports from Coach Reese)

(Brandon, SD)--High scorers were: Kain Koepp with 13, Forrest Hanisch with 11, and Dylan Tibke with 9. We shot 6 for 20 from the free-throw line. The theme from the first half for us was inconsistent play and too many unforced errors on our part. The kids got things together and played much better in the 2nd half. We were down by 8 at half-time and the guys chipped away at the lead, and we actually took the lead late in the 4th quarter. We traded free throws at the end and they forced over time. Kain had some nice steals that he took coast to coast, Forrest Hanisch played good defense on their leading scorer, Spencer Smith had a nice 3 point play, the kids did a nice job of feeding the post, and overall the team played very hard. In the end we missed too many free throws and too many layups.

D Game: BV 41, O'Gorman 16
(Wire reports from Coach Reese)

(Brandon, SD)--High Scorers were: Nick Wilde with 10 points, Zach Flannigan with 6 points, and Dylan Kasma with 6 pts. 10 of 11 players scored. The theme for the game was run, run, run. We ran out to an early lead and kept running all game long. We were up 23 to 5 at half time. The kids played good defense, we had multiple steals, and the kids ran the floor fairly well. Nick Wilde displayed solid skills finishing from both sides of the basket with either hand. Flannigan and Kasma played well down low. Overall the team played well as a group.