Takes double OT in win over Garretson’s Blue Dragons

FLANDREAU – It took double overtime for the Flandreau boys to defeat Garretson on Tuesday, Jan. 27, but they got the job done, 69-65.
The Fliers swept the Blue Dragons in all three boys games held.
In the varsity contest, Flandreau connected on 12 points in each of the first half quarters but Garretson held the edge at half, 29-24. The Fliers broke through for 32 second half points and found the game knotted at 56 when regulation play ended. Both teams scored seven in the first overtime and the Fliers took over in the final OT and outscored the visitors, 6-2 to secure the Big East Conference game.
“We had quite the double overtime battle with Garretson,” said Head Coach Brendan Sheppard.
“They did a good job of trying to pack the lane and force us to shoot from 3. We probably settled for too many. However we did a pretty good job of taking care of the basketball. We will have to improve our point of attack defense against dribble penetration.”
Both teams had even shooting percentages at 41.7 (Garretson) and 41.8 (Flandreau). The Blue Dragons took the rebound game 37-35, but committed more turnovers – 11 – to the Fliers’ four.
Flandreau seniors led the double digit scoring attack. Luke Sheppard scored 26 points, Xavier Bien made 18 and Alex Poitra and Kody Kneebone put in 12 and 10 respectively.
Off the glass, Sheppard made 14 rebounds and Kneebone swiped down 11 and also made two blocks. Sheppard gave away eight assists and Poitra, seven.
Collin Olson scored 22, Carter Siemonsma 16 and Jackson Arend 10 to lead the Blue Dragons.
The JV game contest also saw a close game with the Fliers prevailing 35-34. Jake Hamilton led the Fliers with 13 points and Tate Hammer and Griffin Hemmer both scored six.
The C game ended with the Fliers winning 35-25. Hemmer scored 15 and Braehden Smith Kuhnel added six points.