Blue Jay Boys Defeat Lakers
Stanley’s varsity boys’ basketball team wrapped up their home season as they hosted the DLB Lakers on Friday, Feb. 27. The Blue Jays started out hot, taking a 33 to 18 lead into the half. DLB came back in the second half with the teams trading the lead towards the end of the game with the Blue Jays coming out with the 54 to 52 victory.
Head coach Kory Anderson said, “Friday night was a special one. Senior night is always full of emotion and when the boys step up and play the way they did, it just adds to the night. The first two quarters the boys played great, scoring over 1 point per possession (a stat we track) for the entire first half. We had good balance inside and out. One of the most important stats of the night is the total turnovers. We spoke during the week about needing to bring down turnovers and that keeping them to single digits would give us a chance. We had a lot of momentum going into halftime with Ben Hynek leading the way. After the halftime break, DLB got hot and went on to take the lead late in the game. During the course of the week, we worked on a few different things and it was clear that Kolton Longmuir needed to get some minutes if we decided to play a 2-3 zone. During the week Kolton showed a lot of energy in the defense with deflection and steals. He really did a great job using the minutes he got as he led us with two deflections and two steals in the limited amount of time. After giving up the lead, our boys showed great composure and continued to battle. Jevon Johnson had a great fourth quarter as he closed the game out.”
As a team, Stanley made 17 of their 29 two point and 5 of their 15 three point attempts. They converted 5 of their 11 free throw attempts. DLB made 12 of their 21 two point, 9 of their 31 three point, and 1 of their 5 free throw attempts.
The Blue Jays had 2 offensive and 21 defensive rebounds. They had 14 assists and 10 steals. They committed just 8 turnovers. The Lakers had 9 offensive and 19 defensive rebounds, 18 assists, 4 steals, 1 block and committed 12 turnovers.
Jevon Johnson led the team with 17 points, followed by Ben Hynek with 15, Austin Kanenwisher with 9, Ashton Peterson with 6, Tyke Barstad with 5 and Landon Hunting with 2.
Ben Hynek had 14 rebounds, followed by Ashton Peterson with 3, Austin Kanenwisher and Landon Hunting with 2 each, and Jevon Johnson with 1.
Austin Kanenwisher had 4 assists, followed by Landon Hunting and Jevon Johnson with 3 each, Ben Hynek with 2, and Ashton Peterson and Tyke Barstad with 1 each.
Ben Hynek and Jevon Johnson each had 3 steals, followed by Kolton Longmuir with 2, and Austin Kanenwisher and Ashton Peterson with 1 each.
Stanley 21 12 13 8 - 54
DLB 9 9 19 15 - 52
Up Next: After traveling to Rugby on Monday, Mar. 2 to wrap up regular season play, the Blue Jays’ next action will be at the region tournament that tips off on Monday, Mar. 9 at the MSU Dome. The first game will tip off at 3:00 p.m. with Turtle Mountain vs. Nedrose, followed by Rugby vs. Stanley, Bottineau vs. South Prairie-Max and Dunseith vs. DLB. The tournament continues with winners advancing to semifinals on Tuesday, Mar. 10 starting at 5:30 p.m. On Thursday, Mar. 12, the third place game will start at 5:30 p.m., followed by the championship game.