Sports

Jacks split tough games at Bismarck Classic

By Tyler Ohmann

12/13/2011

Head Coach Ken Keysor saw some positive signs this past week, as the Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks near the end of the first part of their season at the Bismarck State Classic this past weekend.

“We are playing much better basketball on the road and hope to carry into the next semester,” Keysor stated.

On Friday the Jacks opened up the classic with a 102-73 win over Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC). The win avenged a loss to the Mikinocks on Nov. 29.

“We seemed to play with some passion especially at the beginning of the second half,” Keysor stated. “We had some balanced scoring as everyone who played garnered a spot in the scoring column.”

In that second half the Jacks expanded a nine-point first half lead by 20 to win by their largest margin of the season.

The Jacks out shot TMCC 53 to 37 percent, and made 14 three pointers.

“Offensively shoot in over 50 percent from the field is usually a good indicator that we took quality shots,” Keysor stated. “There were several possessions that we rushed our offense and didn’t get the look we were looking for, but it was a step in the right direction.”

Freshman Jayden McMillin led the Jacks with 26 points and 15 rebounds, getting his fifth double-double of the season. Three other Jacks scored in double figures including sophomores Cameron Malzer (16) and Josh Vedaa (13). Freshman Ben Veith had 12 points in the win.

Vedaa added eight rebounds, while Malzer added eight assists in the win.

“We did an excellent job of getting the extra pass in so we got the better of two shots which we were reluctant to do earlier in the year,” Keysor stated.

Saturday’s BSC classic match up pit the Jacks against 17th ranked Dakota County Technical College.
The Jacks fell 84-74 to the very athletic Blue Knights, despite hanging with the Knights.

After a 37-37 tie at halftime the Blue Knights pulled away in the second half as they out rebounded the Jacks 50-35.

“Dakota County is an extremely athletic team that we played right with the whole game,” Keysor stated. “We knew they had two players that could really shoot the ball and one of them ended up making nine three pointers.”

That player was Presten McCourt, who finished with 33 points, including the 9-for-18 night from three point land.

“The night before he shot 2-for-14. What do you do?” Keysor stated. “We actually played pretty well, but once again a few lapses in solid play for about four minutes just killed us.”

Malzer led the Jacks with 22 points. Vedaa had 14 for the Jacks, both Malzer and Vedaa hit four three-pointers.

Sophomore Jeremy Chambers (13) and McMillin (11) each finished in double figures for the Jacks.
With the weekend split at the classic the Jacks record now stands at 6-8.

The Jacks hosted TMCC in a rubber match at 8 p.m. last night to close out their first semester of play. Stats were unavailable by press time.