Holyoke’s Blake Mosenteen goes up for a shot in the third quarter of the boys varsity basketball game against Sedgwick County last Friday. He was the team’s high scorer, making five field goals and five from the foul line. — The Holyoke Enterprise | Johnson Publications
Dragons struggle to overcome early defensive concessions last weekend
In the first half of their season the Holyoke High School basketball boys were starting their games explosively but struggling to finish strong. Since Christmas break, it seems the team has been slower to get going but is playing better late in the game.
“Consistency is what we are striving for,” coach Marcus Kammer summarized as he explained the team’s struggles since coming back from the holidays. “If we can put together a complete game, we will be a scary team to play.”
Last weekend Holyoke hosted Sedgwick County on Jan. 18 and traveled to Wray on Jan. 19. In each game, the Dragons gave up at least 20 puts in the first quarter alone, a deficit that proved too much to come back from. On Friday, the Cougars won 65-56, and on Saturday, the Eagles won 67-54.
Holyoke 56, SedgCo 65
The Cougars didn’t waste any time getting to work Friday night. By the end of the first quarter, they led 22-10. From Kammer’s perspective, Holyoke struggled to stop dribble drive penetration and help-side defense wasn’t good enough. As a result, the Dragons found themselves out of rebounding position.
Sedgwick County put up another 20 points in the second period, but Holyoke players also started to find ways to score, posting 17 points themselves.
Coming back from halftime, the Dragons trailed 42-27. At that point, Kammer said, “defense pressure was much better and we did get some more baskets to fall.” Holyoke outscored Sedgwick County 16-9 in the third quarter and kept playing hard in the fourth. Unfortunately, the damage had been done, and the Cougars won 65-56.
Blake Mosenteen was Holyoke’s high scorer, posting 15 points. He made five field goals and five foul shots. Mason King added 13 to the scoreboard, Caleb Deaver 12 and Slaten Burris 10. Deaver, Mosenteen and King each pulled down five rebounds as well.
From the free-throw line, the two teams were rather evenly matched. Holyoke made 14 of 23 attempted for 61 percent. Sedgwick County made 10 of 17 for 59 percent.
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