Bluejay Basketball
Bluejay Country Keeps Flying
By Sierra Sonnenfelt
The Pierce Bluejays soared right over the Hartington Cedar Catholic Trojans on Saturday, February 4, with a 44-28 win to claim the Mid-State conference championship title.
Benjamin Brahmer summed up the weekend by stating, “We found our groove Friday night versus Wayne and carried that momentum into Saturday. We’ll be successful if we continue the basketball we played this weekend throughout the rest of the season.”
Beginning in the first quarter, the Bluejays had a tremendous start with 17 points over Hartington. The Trojans only managed to score three points against the Bluejay defense.
Following into the second quarter, Pierce scored 10 points back to the board while Hartington only had nine points.
Returning from halftime, the Bluejays came back with a vengeance, scoring another 11 points to add to their collection. Hartington fought to score only seven points.
To finish out the game, the Bluejays gained six more points, bringing their final score to 44 overall points. Hartington added nine points, only pushing their score to 28 points, making the Bluejays conference champions.
Throughout the game, the huge scorers for the night were Brahmer with 18 points as well as Abram Scholting with 17 points. Also, scoring points for the big win was Deon Watts with seven points and Jacksen Wachholtz with two points.
The Bluejays were quick with their steals throughout the game too, including steals from Addison Croghan, Wachholtz, Watts, and Scholting.
Wachholtz describes the game by saying, “I thought Ben and Abram hit some huge shots to get the momentum going, and it helped us have confidence throughout the entire game. Our defense was great the entire tournament and especially in that game.”
The Bluejays will play at Guardian Angels Central Catholic on Thursday, February 9.
Pierce Bluejays Battle Out Battle Creek Braves in First Round of Mid-State
By Autumn Lambrecht
On a rare Wednesday game due to snowy weather postponing games, on Wednesday, February 1, the Pierce Bluejays took on the Battle Creek Braves in the first round of the boys Mid-State conference tournament , and came out victorious, 41-33.
In the first quarter, both teams kept to a low scoring quarter, with the Bluejays scoring six, and the Braves scoring five.
Entering the second quarter, the Bluejays and Braves improved their offenses, with the Bluejays getting 13 points added to the board, followed by the Braves with their 10 points. The first half ended 19-15 in favor of the Jays.
Head coach Mike Emory comments, “We did a nice job of getting the ball inside to our posts and the guards did a great job of getting to the rim. We will need to do a lot of mental work to get ready for Wayne, they run a lot of different actions and are patient until they get a good shot. Defensively we were solid for three quarters but mentally lost some focus in the fourth quarter.”
Coming back for the third, the Bluejays shut down the Braves on offense, and kept the Braves to only scoring seven, while the Bluejays put up 16, ending the third, 35-22.
For the fourth quarter, the Bluejays struggled a bit offensively and only scored six points, while the Braves stepped up their offense and scored 11. The Bluejays had just enough lead from the third to win, 41-33.
Throughout the night, Abram Scholting led the team with 19 points, Benjamin Brahmer followed with 12, Deon Watts contributed six, and Colby Anderson added four. The team also grabbed nine steals and 11 defensive rebounds.
Senior Jacksen Waccholtz comments saying, “We played physically through all four quarters and continued to do a great job coming out of halftime.”
The Bluejays next game will be February 9, against GACC at Guardian Angels Central Catholic School.
