9 games won, 9 lost; one more to go until District play-offs

With Holyoke struggling defensively at the Merino Rams competition on Thursday, the Dragons pulled it together the next day with successful offensive and defensive plays against the Wiggins Tigers.

Currently, the team faces a 9-9 winning rate: Where it goes from there,  Holyoke Head Coach Colbey Stumpf said, “depends on how we do against Akron.” While originally set for Tuesday this week, the home matchup with Akron was changed to Friday.

According to Stumpf, Merino Ram Tyler Miller “gave our players about all they could handle” during Thursday’s game. “A lot of credit to him and Merino: [They are] really well coached,” he added regarding Merino’s Head Coach, Chase Debus.

Starting strong, Holyoke’s Wyatt Sprague received the tip-off. He rushed down the court and made the game’s first points with a layup. The leading scorer from Merino followed up by sinking in a 3-pointer. The first quarter was up for grabs, filled with back-and-forth plays. Most of the efforts, Stumpf reflects, were “really concentrated on stopping [Miller].” These initial efforts made the score 18-15 in the first quarter.

The second quarter, Holyoke made points through layups and a successful free throw by Cash Weber. However, the team did not hold the lead against Merino Miller’s two successful free throws. The Dragons were behind by one point, 29-30, when the halftime buzzer rang.

Holyoke’s Reid Sprague made the first couple of points in the third quarter with a layup. With a foul from Merino, Reid shot a successful free throw. Following Reid’s shot, Holyoke’s Luke Roberts also made two points from two free throws. Merino’s Deacon Trenkle made his first game points through a layup, which also contributed to the first couple of points for the Rams’ third quarter. 

Racing back and forth across the court, the boys faced an even score of 39-39. Victory was up for grabs. But, according to Stumpf, he and Assistant Coach Marcus Kammer “didn’t make the adjustments needed” and the players “didn’t adjust [as well].”

The last quarter proved the need for adjustments when Holyoke fell by one point, with a final score of 60-61. 

“I thought we played really well; we just gotta be able to find a way to close out close games,” Stumpf said, “especially this time of the year.” 

He added that coming out on top over the Rams “would have been a big win for us; they are ranked top 10 in the state.” 

“If we do see them in the future,” he said, “I know myself and our boys are pretty optimistic.”

Holyoke held that optimism onto the next day for the competition against Wiggins. 

“We have kind of struggled in some back-to-backs over the years,” he said, “[while] having such a close game with Merino the night before we came out, we played really well. We played really great defensively for the first half.” 

The Holyoke boys brought good defense in the first two-quarter scores. In the first, the Tigers put up three 3-pointers and a layup by Cade Green, collecting 11 points altogether. While the Dragons had to face extreme outside shooting from the Tigers, they managed to have most of their starters score, with layups and one free-throw point made by Cash.

Additionally, Cash’s freshman brother, Colby, made a strong layup, creating a 13- to-11-point difference. Holyoke made points leading to the second quarter by a handful of layups, aside from the first 3-pointer for the Dragons’ side, driven by Colby again, along with some free-throw points from him and accomplice Reid. 

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