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The Barnesville boys’ basketball team traveled to Breckenridge on Thursday night to take on the Cowboys. “We hadn't played them since last year (first game of the season),” said Head Coach Matt Askegaard of Barnesville. “They had a big win on Tuesday against Hillcrest and have been really improving. I was interested to see how we would respond and how much we have improved, if at all. It's the 'second time around' games at this point in the season where one can see improvement from the beginning.” The Trojans led 46-28 at the half and finished with an 80-59 victory over the Cowboys.
“We came out with a great amount of intensity to start the game and that really carried us throughout,” said Askegaard. “Defensively, I challenged our guards to get up and make the man they were defending feel uncomfortable and they really did a nice job of that. We forced a few turnovers, but it was the contesting of shots and forcing the Cowboys into bad situations that was really effective. We switched up between different defenses to keep them off balance and that seemed to be effective as well. Offensively, we moved the ball really well and were able to get high percentage shots the entire game. We didn't settle for the three, which have done at times this year and truly got our best look every possession. Breckenridge mixed some zone and man to try and throw us off, but we adjusted nicely and were able to get some easy buckets. This is very easy to see with Tate and Wyatt's stat line.”
Tate Inninger scored 28 points and completed a double double with 11 rebounds. Wyatt Suter added 21 points and 5 boards. Owen Riddle contributed 9 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists and one blocked shot. Gannon Bolgrean led the Trojans with 5 assists and 3 steals. Barnesville shot 52% (35-67) from the field and won the rebounding battle, 46-31.
“Overall, this may be our most complete game of the season,” concluded Coach Askegaard. “Offensively, we did not have any let downs and were very efficient and defensively we forced a team to shoot a very low percentage in their own gym. Even though I said this may be our most complete game, I know we can and will continue to improve. Offensively, we had some silly turnovers and didn't shoot well from three. Defensively, we allowed some open 3's to some very good shooters.”
Breckenridge shot 37% (24-64) from the field. They were led by Daymon Smith and Alex Sanchez with 14 points apiece. Jacob Kunkel had 7 points and a team high 6 rebounds, and Landon Blaufuss finished with 6 points and 5 rebounds.
“Barnesville came in and controlled the game physically, from start to finish,” stated Breckenridge Head Coach Jordan Christensen. “We did not match them on the defensive side and in transition. It led to us being down 18 at the half. Alex and Daymon had good nights, offensively. We need to be ready to play against a very good Border West team on Saturday.”
The Trojans are now 3-5 in the conference and 11-6 overall and will play Frazee at Concordia on Saturday.